Imaging
While a good clinical history and medical examination often results in an accurate clinical diagnosis of a patient’s condition, it is sometimes necessary to use imaging to confirm the diagnosis and to rule out more dangerous conditions.
Our ability to provide patients with on-site, same day X-rays, Ultrasounds, CT scans and MRI scans, together with same day reports and extremely competitive prices, provides patients with the reassurance that their conditions will be promptly, conveniently, and cost-effectively investigated.
X-rays
An example is when a patient has knee pain.
While mild cases of knee pain can improve with simple treatments, if there is no obvious improvement in your condition within 2 weeks of any treatment, always ask WHY?
Knee pain can sometimes have serious causes such as stress fractures, knee infection and even cancer.
If knee pain is persistent, severe, has not improved with repeated treatments, or is even getting worse, an X-ray is the basic scan recommended.
A delayed diagnosis can allow many causes of knee pain to get worse, sometimes to the point where surgery becomes unavoidable.
At The Pain Relief Clinic, the cost of a Knee X-ray is $50
MRIs
An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) Scan is a medical technology that has revolutionized the management of people with joint pain.
It is often considered the single best imaging modality for diagnosing the precise cause of the problem and gold standard to help with planning appropriate treatment for joint problems.
The main reason holding people and even doctors from requesting MRIs is the worry that the price of an mri scan is not cheap.
There are often ways to reduce the cash involved when doing an MRI scan.
3 Ways To Reduce Your MRI Costs
- Singaporean patients may visit a polyclinic for a referral to a restructured hospital. If the doctor in the restructured hospital agrees to order an MRI for your condition, the government subsidy given will significantly reduce the cost involved.
- Many insurance plans will cover the costs of your MRIs. Company health insurance plans, personal accident insurance plans, and even integrated shield plans that many Singaporeans have bought using their medisave can cover the costs of an MRI scan.
- Medisave is also an option to help people pay for their MRI scans. Depending on your medical condition, it is possible to claim up to $300 or $600 of medisave for your MRI scans.
In view of the many options available, an MRI scan should be considered for a timely precise diagnosis of the cause of a person’s condition.
A delayed diagnosis can allow many conditions to deteriorate, sometimes to the point of requiring surgery.
It will also prevent you from getting the most effective treatment, result in unnecessarily prolonged suffering, as well as limit your work and social life.
What To Expect When I Visit The Pain Relief Clinic
A typical visit will involve our doctor first understanding your medical history, concerns and previous experience with other pain treatments.
For patients who have consulted many people but have yet to receive a clear diagnosis, selecting an affordable imaging scan might be recommended to confirm the cause of your pain..
Some patients have already done scans with other doctors for their pain condition but are still not clearly told what they suffer from.
Dr Terence Tan is happy to offer you a second opinion and recommend how best to manage your condition.
We also see patients who already have a confirmed diagnosis from specialist pain doctors, but are "stuck” because treatment options offered are not practical or acceptable.
We can help by discussing options that you might have potentially never been told of.
A common experience is when a patient has already consulted a specialist doctor for pain management and is told to consider orthopaedic surgery which they find too aggressive.
Or they may have seen doctors for their pain and were prescribed painkillers with potential side effects which made them feel uncomfortable.
Many of our patients have also first tried complementary treatments or acupuncture with traditional Chinese pain doctors.
They look for a second opinion after finding any relief experienced from other treatments to be temporary or requiring repetitive treatments, which add up to time and cost.
Especially in such situations, we emphasize using non-invasive medical technology you likely have not been told about .
This can make a big difference to your results.