Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Online AS diagnostic tool

Kind of cool

http://www.medalreg.com/irh/medal/ch22/ch22.21/ch22.21.05.php#result

I clicked normal SI joints, Limited my chest expansion by one inch, and that discomfort improves with exercise. It gave me a definate AS diagnosis using the modified New York criteria. Too bad a few docs still hang on that they must see x-ray change crap. It appears the modified criteria does not require xray or mri changes.

Hmmmm. I did the diagnosis with my own data and I qualify for a "definite" diagnosis.

No doctor has ever diagnosed me with anything.

What's up with this?

Karen

When using this how do you know what is normal chest expansion for age and gender?

Yes. I had a game with the input. Have my DX - MRI Saggital STIR images: enthesisis. Have had problems with SIs and have the peripherals. Sooooooooo, 'knowing' my DX I played with the iput. Got a 'definite' YES and a 'definite 'NO!!

Agree with Karen 'what is the norm' of chest expansion given gender and various age groups and, what was one's given chest expansion 'before' and now 'after'?

No way could I answer that, so I made up numbers. Kept that particular number as a constant, but played with the SI input. Results don't figger. Unable to accept this as a concrete diagnostic tool for AS...

Molly

I messed with it too, only changing the SI input & got different answers each time.

I used the chest expansion chart that Drizzit posted and then measured my chest....I got a "definite".

I only did what I know for sure, the rest and exercise and the minimal marks on the bottom, I kept the chest stuff normal, I know I have chosto but I do not know if my expansion is bad or not. I came up with definite.

My dr thinks it's definite but can say 100% yet because I have no fusion. He said if the anti-TNFs work then even without the fusion it's definite.

Knowing that I have a definite dx of AS, I took the test. According to this test, it is unlikely that I have AS, even tho my low back pain has been in evidence for 6 months and I'm Ankylosed in the left SI. So I played with the answers a bit. I had to lower my chest expansion to a 3, tell it that I had limited lumbar movement in at least one direction and also, tell it I am fully Ankylosed in the (what I'm assume is meant to be) right SI as well as the left. If I said I had no movement issues in the lumbar area and full chest expansion, then clicked on minimal sacroilitis it also said a definite diagnosis. However, 'suspicious' as a response to the last SI joint question, put me back to 'unlikely'.

So, colour me confused. But not really, as I know I have AS.

Hugs,

that's funny.....
i, on the other hand, got a "definite AS", and i'm not even sure if i do have it???

sue

That's the thing about this kind of quiz. There's no black and white, just shades of grey when it comes to diagnosing AS. But the quiz is pretty cut and dried. It's a computer, not a human being, and that means that there is no discernment, no taking into account the other issues, like morning stiffness lasting over half an hour, family history or that kind of thing.

Still, Sue, it's nice to know you and Karen can get a firm diagnosis from SOMEone.

Warm hugs,