Diagnosing Post-Acute Infection Syndromes: Special Series from The Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses at Mount Sinai

“Tick-borne illnesses are incredibly stealthy and complicated and if I wasn't living and breathing it every day and seeing the intensity of these symptoms in patients, I would never believe it,” says Shannon Delaney, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City. The complexity of such illnesses and the symptoms they cause is a key reason it can often take years to reach a diagnosis, which is the focus of this episode of Raise the Line, part of a special series on post-acute infection syndromes that Osmosis from Elsevier has created in partnership with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses (CoRE) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. In addition to Dr. Delaney, host Dr. Raven Baxter of CoRE welcomes Dr. Amy Kontorovich, an associate professor in Cardiology and Genomic Medicine at the Icahn School and Dr. David Putrino, director of Rehabilitation Innovation at Mount Sinai, to explore the limitations of current diagnostic tools and protocols and what changes are needed to improve patient care. Key themes include developing better tests for pathogens and educating providers to listen more carefully to patients. “In a typical medical encounter, the biggest dropped ball is completely disregarding an acute infection in the medical history,” stresses Putrino. All agree that providers need to be more comfortable with uncertainty and resist the urge to develop treatment plans that don’t address root causes. “If more doctors could just say, ‘I don't know’ I think it would do a great service to patients," adds Kontorovich. This is a candid and enlightening discussion about the importance of developing a collaborative, patient-centered mindset to provide the best care for those suffering with a range of post-acute infection syndromes.

Mentioned in this episode: 

Mount Sinai Health System

Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation 

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/raisethelinepodcast