Why the images matter more than the report
A radiology report answers the question it was asked. Rehabilitation often asks a different one — so send the study, not the summary.
Families usually send the report because it is one page and in a language they can read. The images are the more useful document.
A report is one reading
A radiology report answers the clinical question that was put at the time — usually acute: is there a bleed, is the fracture reduced, is the implant in position.
Rehabilitation asks a different question of the same images: which structures are involved, and what does that imply for what can be recovered. That reading has to be made from the study itself.
How to send them
The disc from the hospital, or the digital export, in the original format. A photograph of a screen, or a scan of a printed film, loses most of the information that makes the study useful.
If the hospital gives you a patient portal login rather than files, say so — the exported study can usually still be obtained, and it is worth the phone call.
What to do if you cannot get them
Send what you have. A plan can still be written; the estimate of duration will simply be wider, and that widening will be stated rather than hidden.
A short video of the patient walking, transferring or attempting a movement is often more informative than an old report, and it costs nothing to record.
Topic
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