When a diagnostic test result is negative, usually it’s cause for relief. But when the preliminary results of a study showed that nearly 9 in 10 MRI scans were negative, eyebrows were raised.

Not because the test results were questionable, but because of who owned the equipment used to conduct them. As described in a story on MedPage Today, the study, presented at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, involved patients who were sent for testing by physicians who had a financial interest in the MRI equipment.

It also showed that doctors with a financial stake in the device referred much younger patients for the test than those referred by practitioners who did not benefit financially from use of the imaging equipment.