Lung X-Ray/Test Prior to Med Exam??

[widude 21]

 Just an idea, the thought is to get a lung x-ray prior to the St Luke’s medical exam?
 

  What if the beneficiary went to another hospital to get a chest x-ray, looking for the same ‘sputum’ condition? Then if a problem was evident, one could start treatment months before the official medical check?  What is the first time failure rate? Lung exam?
 

  Just a thought as the 129F is moving along.  
 

  Some mention antibiotics, may I ask the type/name, OTC??

[J.M. 121]

More than likely, following this path would increase the delay, not speed it up.  The reason is that SLEC doesn't really accept treatment given elsewhere.  They force a 1-year delay after outside treatment is completed before you can schedule medical.

 

Although SLEC does encourage you to bring past chest x-rays, the one they take themselves is final, even if you bring a dozen from other hospitals that say you are clear.  Getting one in advance to show you are clear is not helpful.  They will ignore it.

 

The x-ray failure rate is somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 17, depending on what source you use.  That's just the x-ray rate.  Failing the x-ray leads to the sputum test, which takes 2 months.  The sputum failure rate should be significantly less than the x-ray rate, but honestly, if your sputum test is positive, you are fortunate to discover that you have TB and need treatment.

 

The first day of medical is quite stressful because of the sputum concern.  There is not much you can do except hope for the best.

 

[RO_AH 1,623]

5 hours ago, widude said:

 Just an idea, the thought is to get a lung x-ray prior to the St Luke’s medical exam?
 

  What if the beneficiary went to another hospital to get a chest x-ray, looking for the same ‘sputum’ condition? Then if a problem was evident, one could start treatment months before the official medical check?  What is the first time failure rate? Lung exam?
 

  Just a thought as the 129F is moving along.

Don't even think about it. Waste of money and time. No treatment matters unless it is administered by SLEC. Just stop. There is no easy way around this. If she gets flagged for sputum, it is extremely rare that she would actually have TB and required treatment.

 

5 hours ago, widude said:

Some mention antibiotics, may I ask the type/name, OTC??

Stop following FB groups, or tell her to stop.

2 hours ago, J.M. said:

More than likely, following this path would increase the delay, not speed it up.  The reason is that SLEC doesn't really accept treatment given elsewhere.  They force a 1-year delay after outside treatment is completed before you can schedule medical.

 

Although SLEC does encourage you to bring past chest x-rays, the one they take themselves is final, even if you bring a dozen from other hospitals that say you are clear.  Getting one in advance to show you are clear is not helpful.  They will ignore it.

 

The x-ray failure rate is somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 17, depending on what source you use.  That's just the x-ray rate.  Failing the x-ray leads to the sputum test, which takes 2 months.  The sputum failure rate should be significantly less than the x-ray rate, but honestly, if your sputum test is positive, you are fortunate to discover that you have TB and need treatment.

 

The first day of medical is quite stressful because of the sputum concern.  There is not much you can do except hope for the best.

 

Spot on!

[widude 21]

 Thanks, oh, I see the failure rate is down near 10-15%, so maybe not that bad. With that letting the cards fall where they may, will be the course of action.

 

 Just to reiterate, the plan wasn’t to show anything to St Lukes. It was to do an independent test, then if needed, independent treatment. I do realize St Luke’s would do everything independently, only dealing with their own treatment. 

[nelmagriffin 142]

Greetings!

 

Also, TB treatment is " Directly observed therapy (DOT) is a method of drug administration in which a health care professional watches as a person takes each dose of a medication¹²³. It is used to ensure the person receives and takes all medications as prescribed and to monitor response to treatment¹. DOT is widely used to manage tuberculosis (TB) disease."

That would mean that if needed to be treated, then one must go to St. Lukes Clinic to have the medication take in front of a health care professional.

 

 

Edited May 1 by nelmagriffin

[Jimmyzr1 36]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:06 PM, widude said:

 Just an idea, the thought is to get a lung x-ray prior to the St Luke’s medical exam?
 

  What if the beneficiary went to another hospital to get a chest x-ray, looking for the same ‘sputum’ condition? Then if a problem was evident, one could start treatment months before the official medical check?  What is the first time failure rate? Lung exam?
 

  Just a thought as the 129F is moving along.  
 

  Some mention antibiotics, may I ask the type/name, OTC??

 

My wife took all of the precautions, including an X-ray 1 month prior, which she passed, she took vitamins, exercised, milk x 1 week and other meds. Went to medical, got flagged for sputum, along with about 80% of the others, she said. had to go back 2 weeks later for the 4 days, including the day off for holiday and just finished today. She now has to wait until July 1st to go back, if nothing shows up negatively. Then she has about 1.5 months after that date to get in the US, along with her son.

 

[Jimmyzr1 36]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:03 PM, J.M. said:

More than likely, following this path would increase the delay, not speed it up.  The reason is that SLEC doesn't really accept treatment given elsewhere.  They force a 1-year delay after outside treatment is completed before you can schedule medical.

 

Although SLEC does encourage you to bring past chest x-rays, the one they take themselves is final, even if you bring a dozen from other hospitals that say you are clear.  Getting one in advance to show you are clear is not helpful.  They will ignore it.

 

The x-ray failure rate is somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 17, depending on what source you use.  That's just the x-ray rate.  Failing the x-ray leads to the sputum test, which takes 2 months.  The sputum failure rate should be significantly less than the x-ray rate, but honestly, if your sputum test is positive, you are fortunate to discover that you have TB and need treatment.

 

The first day of medical is quite stressful because of the sputum concern.  There is not much you can do except hope for the best.

 

 

1 in 10 or 1 in 17 is not true, according to my wife, who just failed X-ray along with about 80% of the others. She said there were 3-400 also there for the start of her sputum tests.

[top_secret 2,098]

There is a scientific study with a lot of statistics and hard numbers for Saint Luke's specifically.  I guess the point of the study was to prove that it is "cheaper" to waste people's time in the Philippines than it is to waste people's time in the US.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390485/

 

The statistics are from 2007-2012 but absolutely none of the methodology or testing protocols have changed since.  From the totals it appears 1.03% of applicants were found to be actually positive for TB after failing both the chest x-ray AND sputum testing. 13.63% of total applicants failed the chest x-ray but were found TB free after sputum testing.  So it seems that in the study 14.66% (1.03%+13.63%) failed chest x-rays and were sent for sputum testing.  That's 1 out of 6.8 who fail the chest x-ray at Saint Luke's.  So mathematically you have 2% better odds chancing a round with Saint Luke's x-ray machine than you would playing Russian roulette.

 

It's also worth noting that both false positive chest x-rays and actual active TB cases are heavily skewed against older applicants.  For 46-65 years olds, nearly a third of all applicants get sent for sputum testing and for 65+ y/o it's closer to 50/50 coin toss type odds.

 

I agree with everyone else here,  there is absolutely nothing you can do about it so it is useless to spend time worrying about it.  If you get sent for sputum testing there is nothing you could have done differently that would have prevented it.  But your chances of passing sputum testing with nothing more than a frustrating and annoying delay are extremely high.  For the very few who actually do fail sputum testing they probably really need TB treatment which is potentially an even greater concern.

[widude 21]

 Thanks, I’ll forget the idea of overthinking the process.