About
SpecialtiesDoctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Doctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Radiology
Languages spoken
English
Doctor Q&A
39 Answers
5 Agrees
The number of answers this doctor has agreed with.
A 28-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No increased risk: the fluid index is a bit low but that is highly variable on how the sonographer displays the image. The other ultrasound findings would not confer an... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 39-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Acromegaly: A growth hormone secreting pituitary tumor would cause acromegaly in an adult and gigantism in a child. There are radiographic findings on a hand rad... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 34-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Yes and No: you can be extremely sure (nothing in science is 100%) that your coronary arteries are clean and your heart is functioning normally. MACE (major adve... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 67-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Complicated: Measurement of lesions at CT is not a trivial task. Measurement in the axial plane in two dimensions may not reflect the volume of the lesion. The me... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 21-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Extremely Unlikely: Most likely related to a scalp lesion like infected hair follicle. Lymphoma usually presents in the neck, armpits, chest or abdomen. May or may not ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 32-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Double check old MRI: choroidal fissure cyst is a congenital developmental lesion which almost never causes symptoms. It is near the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Fibroid Uterus: Fibroids are benign smooth muscle tumors aka leiomyomas which are extremely common. I would guess that more than 50% of women over 50 years old have t... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 31-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Risser Grade: I suspect they meant to say Risser 5. This is grading of how mature the iliac crest apophysis is. This is thought to predict how much a scoliosis wi... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 21-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Need more info: Is the 35 weeks gestational age a good number? Were there earlier scans in the first trimester? Was the amniotic fluid amount normal? Does the moth... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 43-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Yes: There is national shortage of Kinevec ( a cholecystokinin analogue) which is given IV as part of the provocative HIDA study. An oral fatty meal like E... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 67-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Can be subtle : Did the patient have surgery where the surgeon biopsied the peritoneum ? Peritoneal implants can be very subtle at CT.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 30-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Probably neither: Difficult to know without seeing all the MRI sequences. It would be helpful to know if the lesions enhance after Gadolinium contrast and if they "blo... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 20-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Most likely fine: If there is a lot of iron in the pigment in the tattoo, it might heat up a bit in the MRI scanner. It would be worse at higher field strength such as ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Depends: Very difficult question. Much depends on whether the patient is a child or adult, and the tumor a primary brain tumor or a metastasis and whether the... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 30-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
LP with cytology : Lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Then the Pathology department spins the fluid down in a centrifuge in order to concentrate the cells. The sediment is ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 24-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Probably not: Bile produced in the liver is excreted via the common bile duct through the papilla of Vater. It should flow ante grade into the small bowel. If it ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 24-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No: The USPSTF recommends annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in adults aged 55 to 80 years who have a 30 pack-year ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 23-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No: they remove the lamina. after several years, it can appear on MRI that the resected Bone has grown back, but by CT we always see a defect
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 25-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Palpable mass: Testicular cancer usually presents with a painless mass in the testicle. Systemic symptoms are rare unless metastatic at presentation. Rare tumors ca... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Rest it: The less you use it, the faster it will heal. This is one case where you should not "suck it up" and return to sports too early. Continued stress on... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 24-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Yes: The body can absorb some disc herniations. We see see this not infrequently on MRI.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Benign hamartoma: angiomyilipoma is a benign hamartoma usually occurring in the kidney (but rarely in the liver). There is no malignant potential. They usually contai... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 21-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Hard to say: most likely a benign tumor like meningioma or fibrous dysplasia or letomemingeal cyst. Image if you dare with MRI and CT. Most likely better to leav... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Ignore: Compare with old radiographs or CTs. Shoulder, neck abdomen might show no change.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 54-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Lots: most enlarged painful lymph nodes in the neck of young healthy people without prior serious medical history will be reactive to infection in the throa... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 33-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No: Spondylotic is a fancy way to say degenerative. The disc is worn out. Exercise will not make it better. Herniated disc means different things to dif... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No way to know: probably not. This is a very complex issue. Autopsy rate of differentiated thyroid cancer is more than 50% in those over 50 years old. This is a can... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.2k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 25-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Probably not: a non displaced or mildly displaced rib fracture without complication (pneumothorax, hemothorax, pulmonary contusion ) is not worth diagnosing. You w... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Hmm: venous ultrasound can exclude DVT in the femoral vein. However, unless there are risk factors like factor V Leiden deficiency, oral contraceptives, r... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 34-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Possibly: it would depend on the type of sequences and thinness of slices used on the standard brain MRI protocol and whether IV gadolinium was used. Dural ven... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 26-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
CTA score?: We don't report a score with a coronary artery CTA. CAC (coronary artery calcium) score is done with CT but without IV contrast. The nonconrast study... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 42-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Yes: CT has better spatial resolution and would be better for surgical planning for cholesteatoma surgery. MRI should be able to exclude middle ear choles... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 26-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
US for GB, CT panc: CT is much better for pancreas evaluation because overlying bowel gas limits US visualization in most patients. Because 90% of gallstones are made of ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 67-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
No: SUV has no bearing on the aggressiveness of the cancer. It is a relative measure of the glucose metabolism. In fact, some very aggressive tumors hav... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.4k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 34-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Probably fine: subchorionic hemmohage is very common early on. We wouldn't even know about it if not for high quality ultrasound. As long as the embryo's heartbeat ... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 38-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Not to worry: All modern hip and knee replacements are MRI compatible. Either titanium or stainless steel.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
3.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 23-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Dating based on LMP: That is the gestational age of the fetus based on the first day of your last menstrual period. However in the first trimester, they would use the mea... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 37-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Probably not: This is a very complicated issue that we don't know the answer to yet. The nodule you describe does not meet the Kim criteria or the Society of Ameri... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 20-year-old male asked:
Dr. John Toanswered
32 years experience
Very likely : Arachnoid cysts are faiily common congenital lesion. We see them all the time. In general lesions outside the brain are benign, and lesions inside th... Read More
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
37 viewsAnswered >2 years ago
TestimonialsRecommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
Recommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
2
Recommendations
45
Thank you notes
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. To is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. To is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Autopsy rate of differentiated thyroid cancer is more than 50% in those over 50 years old. Can you reference where you found this fact?
Source: HealthTap, https://www.healthtap.com/user_questions/
HealthTap member
This was very helpful. Thanks! Thank you for your reponse. I am releived to know this procedure is not painful and that anesthesia is not a typical practice
HealthTap member
This was very helpful. Thanks! Thank you very much for your answer, I don't want to have a procedure done if it is not necessary.
Education & Training
Medical/Graduate school
Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, CA
Graduated 1991MD
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
Answer emailed
in 24 hours or less