Okay, as most MTs do, naturally I have a lot of entries in my expander already to have l12 expand to L1-2, plus l1l2 to expand to L1-L2, all of those types. But I would like to vastly improve on all the variations. I'm thinking of:

at the L1-2 level (and all the other numbers)
of the L3-4 level
of the L5-S1 disc
at L2-3

Etc. You get the picture. And of course, let's not leave out the cervical spine.

I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours first. If nobody responds, I'll give mine out. LOL.

Thank you.

OOOh, Harrie. I'm just way interested in this, as I do a LOT of ortho, and the one I do specializes in the back. I'd bet I type L1-L2 a good 50 or so times a day. I have lots in my expander from the radiology list. Duh, just never thought of adding anything before or after, so you've really opened up my mind on this. If I get half a chance tonight or tomorrow, I'll see what I can come up with and post a few here.

Marti

Harrie I am glad you brought this up because I hadn't even thought about shorts for those and when I went to put in the ones like you have, they were already there and I just have not been using them?!!!

I'll see what I can come up with also....

I haven't been around because I have been majorly infected and had to do some serious housecleaning on the computer! Mischel Internet Security has been great in helping me out!

I will await the ideas from you two with gusto! Thanks! Real glad you were able to get cleaned up, Karen!

Here are just a very few taken from my last bit of work.

LDF/rods L4 to S1
fusion at L4-5
degenerated disk at L4-5
facet arthritis at L4-5 and L5-S1
an epidural block at the L4-5 level
ACDF C5-6
stenosis at L4-5
collapsed disk at L5-S1
nerve root encroachment at the level of
LDF/Synthes rods at
LDF/Endius rods at
osteophyte complexes at L4-5 and L5-S1
LDF/Schanz rods at
Impingement syndrome

Marti

Here are a couple:

at the top of T3
at the bottom of

Maybe I can add some more when I get some work done today!!

Well, I think a continuing list of spine/disk abbreviations would be tremendous. So thanks, my good members, for starting it off!

My continuations are so awesome with my radiology work that really, ofttimes I feel I am better off actually adding less and letting them do the work. I'm still awed by what a 5-second compilation can do!

I'm really interested in this Harrie. Because I was taught that it was always L1-L2, C3-C4, etc, regardless of how the doc says it, when I started compiling my list I put them in as:
l12=L1-L2
c34=C3-C4
Now, the company I work for wants it how the doc says it, so I need to rearrange my expansions. I'm not sure how I am going to do it, because I am so used to what I have already.
Maybe:
l12=L1-2
ll12=L1-L2
I'll have to think on it a little and I will be eagerly awaiting everyone else's ideas.

Harrie, are you doing strictly radiology these days?
Thanks all./bj

Yes, Jettybo, strictly radiology and it's wearing me out, LOL! I like it very, very much, though.

Seems like your idea for changing ought to work well. We do hate change but are remarkably adept at doing it when we have to!

Nothing bril has hit me yet.

I don’t know if you're looking for anything like this or not, but I have a bit of a different twist on numbers that I learned from Barb Grow a long time back...

Instead of typing the numbers, I use letters like this:
on=1
tw=2
th=3
fo=4
fi=5
si=6
se=7
ei=8
ni=9
te=10

This opens up tons of shortcuts that don’t usually interfere with much else, or don’t for me anyway. My spine shortcuts look like this:
lon=L1
ltw=L2
lontw=L1-2
lthfo=L3-4

Then when they say both alpha designations, I do it like this:
lonltw=L1-L2
cthcfo=C3-C4

It looks kind of cumbersome now that I've typed it out and look at it, but it rolls right off my fingers - Way easier than reaching for the numbers up there on top. Course... I've been doing it this way for a very long time, so it's second nature to me.

I do basically the same thing except I have one letter for each number 1=o, 2=w, 3=t, 4=f, 5=v, 6=x, 7=s, 8=e, 9=n. This way I never had numbers in my shorts in IT.