Nonconventional diagnostic methods: to trust or not to trust?

The problem of diagnosis was and remains to one of the most important in medicine. From that, the reason of an indisposition of the patient will be how precisely defined, eventually success of treatment depends. In spite of the fact that the majority of the diagnostic methods applied in official clinical practice has very high informational content and reliability, mistakes directed by diagnoses nevertheless are not excluded.

Both this fact, and other inconveniences connected with the address to doctors force some of our fellow citizens to obtain information on a condition of the health by means of alternative (nonconventional) ways of diagnosis.

What are methods of alternative diagnosis so attractive by?

The situation which developed in domestic medicine is considerably guilty that Russians even more often address alternative diagnosis. In recent years receiving the hi-tech help became more available to ordinary citizens, but the main shortcomings of this process did not disappear. In other words, to get a referral on inspection, the person needs still to spend a fair amount of time. Besides, it is not accepted to spare the patient in the course of diagnosis at us: many procedures either are painful in itself, or demand extremely unpleasant preparation. Certainly, Russians not only do not try to address such methods for planned medical examination, but also try to avoid whenever possible them even at emergence of painful symptoms.

Procedures of alternative diagnosis, on the contrary, are very comfortable and painless. Their carrying out, as a rule, does not demand big expenses of time. However, they are not free, but expenses are usually not so big. Patients are attracted by one more feature: the specialist doing diagnosis usually makes recommendations unostentatiously, without psychological pressing which is sometimes afforded by official physicians at communication with patients. It creates feeling of freedom of choice at the patient and strengthens trust to results of inspection.

The most widespread ways of nonconventional diagnosis

Methods of alternative diagnosis are very various. One of them represent modern modifications of ways of definition of the diseases having thousand-year history, others are obliged by the emergence only to development of computer technologies. The following methods are most known:

• Iridology (definition of existence of pathologies on changes of an iris of the eye of eyes). It is entered into practice by the Indian and Chinese healers more than 3000 years ago. It is based on idea that any malfunctions in an organism change characteristics of an iris of the eye (a shade, uniformity of coloring, width, density and color of border etc.). With the advent of the hi-tech equipment there was an opportunity to bring the image of a human eye to the monitor of high resolution and to see changes of parameters of an iris with a fine precision and in all details. It gave to a method new life, and opened access to it to a large number of patients. The research is perfect without serious consequences, does not demand preparation, becomes very quickly. Unfortunately, the percent of mistakes at such diagnosis makes from 30 to 80%. Most successfully gastrointestinal diseases, reproductive system and a musculoskeletal system are defined;
• Foll's (electroacupuncture) method. Diagnosis is based on that assumption that certain points on a body of the person correspond to internals, and each of them has the bioelectric potential. Potential difference size between two points can be measured, and deviations of this parameter from the average value taken for norm will demonstrate existence of diseases. The procedure is absolutely safe, is easily postponed. The advanced device of Foll is combined with the computer, and the patient can see on the monitor not only values of the measured parameter, but also the possible diagnosis, and also recommendations to destination of homeopathic treatment that strongly strengthens trust to a method, despite very low reliability;
• Diagnosis on pulse. Unlike modern doctors who on frequency, filling and rhythm of pulse judge work of cardiovascular system ancient healers from these data took much more detailed information. Their today's followers claim that it is possible to determine localization of many pathological processes in an organism by characteristics of pulse. However, justice of these statements is not confirmed with clinical trials;
• Reflexodiagnosis. The method is based on the statement which is very distributed in the ancient time that all internals have the projections in the form of points to surfaces of feet, palms and auricles. On morbidity of these zones when pressing it is possible to judge a condition of appropriate authorities. Such research, certainly, cannot do harm to the patient, but also there is practically no advantage of his carrying out as informational content of a method is doubtful;
• Bioresonant testing. This way – one of the most modern. Without use of the hi-tech computer equipment its existence would be impossible. In this case measure the frequency of the waves which are let out by various zones of a brain, each of which stores information on a condition of a certain body. The obtained data are output to the monitor in the form of the multi-colored spots arising against the background of the image of a human body. Inspection about two hours will proceed, and as a result the patient receives color printout with estimated diagnoses. Supporters of use of this method consider that with its help it is possible to define diseases at the earliest stages (that, however, clinically is not confirmed yet).

There are also more exotic methods of alternative diagnosis, for example, by outward of language.

Merit of nonconventional diagnosis is its harmlessness and painlessness, but, unfortunately, these pluses do not compensate doubtful informational content of the majority of methods.

In what danger of the appeal to alternative diagnosis?

At full harmlessness of nonconventional researches, the people trying to define a condition of own health with their help are exposed to quite real danger. The matter is that any doctor will not begin to appoint treatment on the basis of the diagnosis established by exclusively alternative methods. At the address to doctor patient anyway it is necessary to undergo traditional inspection, including to undergo those unpleasant procedures which he wanted to avoid. For this reason the patients who decided on alternative diagnosis begin to self-medicate further, doing themselves double harm: the organism suffers also from lack of treatment of the existing illnesses, and from the effect of drugs, accepted without the slightest grounds. Effects of such actions can be very sad.

It is not excluded that some methods of alternative diagnosis will be sometime recognized as official medicine. For this purpose it is necessary to confirm their informational content, to conduct numerous clinical trials to compare their results to data on the confirmed diagnoses of specific patients. Besides, it is very important to train the qualified specialists able to interpret results of diagnostic procedures. There is no all this now so inclusion of alternative diagnostic methods in an arsenal of the Russian doctors – a matter of the distant future.