A foreign mother, Courtney, shared that her 4-year-old child, Alex, had been to 17 doctors in 3 years for chronic pain, and none of them were able to explain the exact cause of the pain-until Courtney signed up for ChatGPT and uploaded Alex’s medical condition. the right diagnosis.
Three years ago, Courtney bought an inflatable trampoline because she was worried about her kids being bored at home during the outbreak, but it wasn’t long before her son, Alex, started having body aches and pains, and had to take Motrin (a brand of ibuprofen, the active ingredient) every day to keep from throwing tantrums and tantrums.
When Alex started chewing, Courtney wondered if the pain was caused by his molars or cavities and took him to the dentist. But the dentist ruled out those causes, thought Alex might just be grinding his teeth, and recommended Courtney to an orthodontist who specializes in treating airway obstructions-which, according to the dentist, can interfere with sleep, which can cause a child to be tired and moody.
After examining Alex, the orthodontist said Alex’s upper jaw was too small for his mouth and teeth, which could make it difficult for him to breathe at night, so the doctor recommended an expander be fitted to Alex’s upper jaw.
“Things seemed to improve and everything was a little bit better.” Courtney thought that would be the end of it, but then she noticed that Alex hadn’t grown in a long time, and even his left and right feet seemed to be developing out of balance: Alex was always walking with his right foot in front of him, and dragging his left.
Courtney took Alex back to the pediatrician, who speculated that Alex’s developmental problems might be due to the epidemic. Although Courtney did not agree with this theory, she followed the pediatrician’s recommendation that Alex receive physical therapy to correct the imbalance between his left and right feet.
At the same time, Alex was also experiencing severe headaches, so Courtney took him to a neurologist, who said Alex suffered from migraines, and to an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor to confirm whether Alex’s constant fatigue was due to a sinus cavity or airway that was causing a sleep disorder.
However, no dentist, pediatrician, neurologist or ENT was able to find the true cause of Alex’s pain and fatigue. Courtney felt powerless: “No matter how many doctors we saw, they would only focus on their area of expertise, and no one was willing to address the bigger issues or even tell us what the diagnosis really was.”
By chance, a physical therapist told Courtney that Alex might have a condition called Chiari malformation – a congenital disorder that causes an abnormality in the brain where the skull meets the spine. Courtney began researching the condition and took Alex to more doctors: a new pediatrician, a pediatric internist, an adult internist and a musculoskeletal surgeon, but nothing worked.
Courtney counted 17 different doctors they’d taken Alex to over the past three years, but never found a cause that explained all of his symptoms – and, exhausted, Courtney signed up for ChatGPT a few months ago, hoping the AI would provide some useful information.
After entering medical information, ChatGPT found the cause!
After successfully signing up for ChatGPT, Courtney entered everything she knew about Alex’s symptoms, as well as all the information from the MRI images into ChatGPT: “I went line by line through everything in Alex’s [MRI records] and then entered it all into ChatGPT. “
As it turned out, it was one of those ways that just didn’t seem right that actually gave an answer: combined with the medical information Courtney entered, ChatGPT diagnosed him with spinal tethering syndrome.
“That diagnosis makes a lot of sense.” After learning of this possibility, Courtney quickly went to Facebook to search for information and joined a group of families with children who sounded almost exactly like Alex.
So this time, Courtney made an appointment with a new neurosurgeon and told him straight up that Alex might have spinal embolism syndrome. And the doctor, after looking at Alex’s MRI images, confirmed her story: Alex does have spinal tethering syndrome.
According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, spinal cord tethering syndrome occurs when spinal cord tissue forms attachments that restrict the movement of the spinal cord, causing it to stretch abnormally. Symptoms include dragging of the legs, body aches and pains, scoliosis, deformities of the feet or legs, and developmental delays in stages such as sitting up and walking. This condition is closely related to spina bifida, which is a birth defect in which part of the spinal cord is underdeveloped, resulting in partial exposure of the spinal cord and nerves.
In simple terms, spinal cord tethering syndrome means that “the spinal cord is attached to something”. This could be a tumor in the spinal canal, a bump on a bone spur, or simply too much fat at the end of the spinal cord. A pediatric neurosurgeon explains, “Pulling occurs once the abnormal area can’t be stretched …….”
Often, doctors notice these conditions soon after birth, but certain markers that may indicate hidden spina bifida, such as a dimple, a red spot or a strand of hair, can be easily overlooked – Alex has “hidden” spina bifida, and because he’s still a toddler, it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what he has. Alex has “hidden” spina bifida, and because he’s a toddler, it’s hard to tell exactly what it is, so it’s hard to diagnose.
Thanks to a reminder from ChatGPT, the source of the pain that had plagued Alex for three years was finally identified. After the diagnosis of spinal tethering syndrome, Alex underwent surgery soon after and is well on his way to recovery, Courtney says, noting that she can finally see real relief and joy on Alex’s face.
Still, at this point, ChatGPT is not a substitute for a clinician.
There’s no doubt that for Courtney and Alex, ChatGPT was a big help. Andrew Beam, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard University, who researches machine learning models and medicine, also commented after learning about the incident, “This (ChatGPT) is a super-powerful medical search engine.”
According to Andrew Beam, ChatGPT learns from the vast amount of textual data available on the Internet, reads the entire Internet, and therefore may “not have the same blind spots as a human doctor”. Especially for patients with complex conditions that make it difficult to get a diagnosis, ChatGPT may be better as a diagnostic tool than a typical symptom checker or Google.
However, Andrew Beam also emphasized that ChatGPT cannot replace the expertise of clinicians anytime soon, as it may “make up information” when it can’t find an answer. For example, if someone asks ChatGPT about a study on influenza, it will give them a few titles that sound plausible, and even list the authors, when in fact the papers may not exist. “This ‘illusion’ phenomenon is a big problem when we start talking about ChatGPT in medicine.”
Dr. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), also mentioned that while AI products show great promise in helping to ease the burden on physicians, both ChatGPT and and other generative AI products currently have limitations and safety issues that will pose a potential risks for physicians and patients, and should be used with caution.