Comments on: Roy: Hansbrough “Extremely Doubtful” For Opener

By: LarryP

LarryP — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:18:06 +0000

Thanks for the confirmation,THF.

By: Tar Heel Fan

Tar Heel Fan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:31:48 +0000

Larry,

On Oct 30 he had the MRI which showed a stress reaction.

On Oct 31 he had a bone scan to confirm there was no fracture.

By: LarryP

LarryP — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:10:46 +0000

For the record, I stand corrected. Going back to the original UNC release I found that the stress reaction was detected by an MRI rather than a bone scan. I don’t know if he had a scan or not.

By: C. Michael

C. Michael — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:53:01 +0000

Actually, MRI is more than capable of diagnosing tibial stress reactions. From what I’ve read, this is the only test Tyler’s had.

By: Tar Heel Fan

Tar Heel Fan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:25:29 +0000

Larry,

I think the MRI came first because with the MRI you are looking more at the tendons and such. That is when they noticed a problem. Then they did the bone scan to see if there were any signs of a fracture. The bone scan obviously can pick up the smallest cracks in the bone.

By: C. Michael

C. Michael — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:13:28 +0000

uncgirl50,

Nothing scary at all. The radioisotopes that are used MRI (in this case, probably Technetium Tc 99m Medronate, as it is great in bone scans) are given in very low doses and are excreted rapidly. Many times the radiation received is less than what you would absorb getting an x-ray.

As for the “extremely doubtful,” prognosis: I actually find this encouraging. I expected he would just be “out,” so to me this indicates that he is getting better with reasonable speed.

By: uncgirl50

uncgirl50 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:41:50 +0000

Nueclear dye? That sounds scary. But Tyler can take it.

By: LarryP

LarryP — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:08:36 +0000

Actually, Hansbrough had a bone scan initially. That’s different from an MRI. With a bone scan the patient is injected with some sort of nuclear dye that is given 2 or 3 hours to be absorbed into the bone. Then a device scans the area looking for the material. Results depend on how much or how little of the material is detected.
I know this because I’m scheduled to have a bone scan on my hip Friday and have looked it up on the Internet.
I think an MRI would be the next step if the bone scan detected something.

By: uncgirl50

uncgirl50 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:29:35 +0000

Hopefully this is only a caution. As long as Tyler is getting better I will feel good. Hopefully everyone else is going to step up. We need him by Maui at least the last day of it. My prayers are with him. Go Heels!

By: wb3

wb3 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:03:30 +0000

My recollection is that he definitely was having an 2nd MRI yesterday. Last week, his father said that the “sore spot” in his lower leg was gone, but that he probably wouldn’t even play in Hawaii.

From all this it sounds like they are going to do all they can to make sure Hansbrough will be 100% for the rest of the year by giving him proper rest before ACC play. It is probably killing Tyler.