Treatment response assessment of acute pyelonephritis: A multi-reader DWI-based MRI approach.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a structured reporting score (SRS) in treatment response assessment for acute pyelonephritis (APN) using a diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) -based MRI approach. Additionally, we explored the influence of reader experience on the interpretation of SRS and DWI, including lesion conspicuity and measurements of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) maps. METHODS: Follow-up DWI-based MRIs of 36 patients treated for APN between September 2021 and June 2023 were retrospectively reviewed by three readers. Follow-up blood inflammatory markers were used as reference standard. Treatment response was assessed using a structured reporting score (SRS). Each reader assigned a score from 1 to 3 to the "conspicuity" of the residual disease on DWI. Quantitative ADC measurements were compared with the Mann-Whitney U test. Descriptive statistics and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were calculated. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy of SRS was 80.6 %, 76.9 %, and 72.2 % for the Reader 1, 2, and 3 respectively. ICC decreased from 0.82 (Reader 1 and 2), to 0.68 when considering all readers. The average conspicuity varied between 2.3 and 2.7. ADC values were significantly higher in complete responders for Reader 1 and 2 (153.5-154.5 vs 107.7-116.2, p < 0.001). The ICC was good (0.89) for Reader 1 and 2 and moderate (0.60) when considering all readers. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment response of pyelonephritis can be accurately assessed by a DWI-based MRI, potentially avoiding unnecessary contrast agent administration and radiation exposure. SRS and DWI analysis showed a good inter-observer agreement but a certain learning curve may be necessary for less expert readers.

MR Evaluation of Placenta Accreta Spectrum: Concordance Rates and Effect of Structured Reporting on Patient Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the concordance rate of MRI findings with intraoperative and pathologic findings in patients with Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS), as well as the use of structured reporting, and their relationship to clinical outcomes. METHODS: An IRB approved retrospective chart review was performed for patients with a history of cesarean delivery, a diagnosis of PAS on post-operative pathology report, and a placental MRI prior to delivery between 2008-2022. Concordance rates were calculated between final MRI, ultrasound, operative, and pathologic diagnoses, as well as impact on clinical outcomes. Quantitative variables were analyzed using a t-test. Categorical variables were analyzed using chi-squared and Fischer's exact tests. RESULTS: A total of 59 patients met initial inclusion criteria. Of these 59 patients, 8 (13.6%) were interpreted using structured reporting. Discordance between preoperative imaging, operative findings and final pathology diagnoses were associated with increased blood loss, blood transfusion, ICU admission, and postpartum length of stay. Structured reporting was found to significantly reduce the amount of diagnostic discordance (p=.017) and was associated with decreased ICU admissions when utilized (p=.045). CONCLUSIONS: Use of structured reporting in the interpretation of placental MRI may decrease the amount of discordance between imaging and intraoperative or pathologic diagnoses, which in our study is associated with improved patient outcomes including decreased blood loss and amount of blood transfused. Radiologists must be cognizant of key imaging features of PAS on MRI, as interpretation provides an opportunity to positively impact the quality and safety of patient care.

Imaging Findings in Acute Traumatic Brain Injury: a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Common Data Element-Based Pictorial Review and Analysis of Over 4000 Admission Brain Computed Tomography Scans from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) Study.

In 2010, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) created a set of common data elements (CDEs) to help standardize the assessment and reporting of imaging findings in traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, as opposed to other standardized radiology reporting systems, a visual overview and data to support the proposed standardized lexicon are lacking. We used over 4000 admission computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with TBI from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study to develop an extensive pictorial overview of the NINDS TBI CDEs, with visual examples and background information on individual pathoanatomical lesion types, up to the level of supplemental and emerging information (e.g., location and estimated volumes). We documented the frequency of lesion occurrence, aiming to quantify the relative importance of different CDEs for characterizing TBI, and performed a critical appraisal of our experience with the intent to inform updating of the CDEs. In addition, we investigated the co-occurrence and clustering of lesion types and the distribution of six CT classification systems. The median age of the 4087 patients in our dataset was 50 years (interquartile range, 29-66; range, 0-96), including 238 patients under 18 years old (5.8%). Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (45.3%), skull fractures (37.4%), contusions (31.3%), and acute subdural hematoma (28.9%) were the most frequently occurring CT findings in acute TBI. The ranking of these lesions was the same in patients with mild TBI (baseline Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score 13-15) compared with those with moderate-severe TBI (baseline GCS score 3-12), but the frequency of occurrence was up to three times higher in moderate-severe TBI. In most TBI patients with CT abnormalities, there was co-occurrence and clustering of different lesion types, with significant differences between mild and moderate-severe TBI patients. More specifically, lesion patterns were more complex in moderate-severe TBI patients, with more co-existing lesions and more frequent signs of mass effect. These patients also had higher and more heterogeneous CT score distributions, associated with worse predicted outcomes. The critical appraisal of the NINDS CDEs was highly positive, but revealed that full assessment can be time consuming, that some CDEs had very low frequencies, and identified a few redundancies and ambiguity in some definitions. Whilst primarily developed for research, implementation of CDE templates for use in clinical practice is advocated, but this will require development of an abbreviated version. In conclusion, with this study, we provide an educational resource for clinicians and researchers to help assess, characterize, and report the vast and complex spectrum of imaging findings in patients with TBI. Our data provides a comprehensive overview of the contemporary landscape of TBI imaging pathology in Europe, and the findings can serve as empirical evidence for updating the current NINDS radiologic CDEs to version 3.0.

A novel reporting workflow for automated integration of artificial intelligence results into structured radiology reports.

OBJECTIVES: Artificial intelligence (AI) has tremendous potential to help radiologists in daily clinical routine. However, a seamless, standardized, and time-efficient way of integrating AI into the radiology workflow is often lacking. This constrains the full potential of this technology. To address this, we developed a new reporting pipeline that enables automated pre-population of structured reports with results provided by AI tools. METHODS: Findings from a commercially available AI tool for chest X-ray pathology detection were sent to an IHE-MRRT-compliant structured reporting (SR) platform as DICOM SR elements and used to automatically pre-populate a chest X-ray SR template. Pre-populated AI results could be validated, altered, or deleted by radiologists accessing the SR template. We assessed the performance of this newly developed AI to SR pipeline by comparing reporting times and subjective report quality to reports created as free-text and conventional structured reports. RESULTS: Chest X-ray reports with the new pipeline could be created in significantly less time than free-text reports and conventional structured reports (mean reporting times: 66.8 s vs. 85.6 s and 85.8 s, respectively; both p < 0.001). Reports created with the pipeline were rated significantly higher quality on a 5-point Likert scale than free-text reports (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The AI to SR pipeline offers a standardized, time-efficient way to integrate AI-generated findings into the reporting workflow as parts of structured reports and has the potential to improve clinical AI integration and further increase synergy between AI and SR in the future. CRITICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: With the AI-to-structured reporting pipeline, chest X-ray reports can be created in a standardized, time-efficient, and high-quality manner. The pipeline has the potential to improve AI integration into daily clinical routine, which may facilitate utilization of the benefits of AI to the fullest. KEY POINTS: • A pipeline was developed for automated transfer of AI results into structured reports. • Pipeline chest X-ray reporting is faster than free-text or conventional structured reports. • Report quality was also rated higher for reports created with the pipeline. • The pipeline offers efficient, standardized AI integration into the clinical workflow.

External validation of the Brain Tumour Reporting and Data System (BT-RADS) in the multidisciplinary managementof post-treatment gliomas.

Purpose: To independently and externally validate the Brain Tumour Reporting and Data System (BT-RADS) for post-treatment gliomas and assess interobserver variability. Material and methods: In this retrospective observational study, consecutive MRIs of 100 post-treatment glioma patients were reviewed by two independent radiologists (RD1 and RD2) and assigned a BT-RADS score. Inter-observer agreement statistics were determined by kappa statistics. The BT-RADS-linked management recommendations per score were compared with the multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) decisions. Results: The overall agreement rate between RD1 and RD2 was 62.7% (κ = 0.67). The agreement rate between RD1 and consensus was 83.3% (κ = 0.85), while the agreement between RD2 and consensus was 69.3% (κ = 0.79). Among the radiologists, agreement was highest for score 2 and lowest for score 3b. There was a 97.9% agreement between BT-RADS-linked management recommendations and MDM decisions. Conclusions: BT-RADS scoring led to improved consistency, and standardised language in the structured MRI reporting of post-treatment brain tumours. It demonstrated good overall agreement among the reporting radiologists at both extremes; however, variation rates increased in the middle part of the spectrum. The interpretation categories linked to management decisions showed a near-perfect match with MDM decisions.

Assessing the impact of structured reporting on learning how to report lung cancer staging CT: A triple cohort study on inexperienced readers.

PURPOSE: To assess the clinical utility of chest computed tomography (CT) reports for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) staging generated by inexperienced readers using structured reporting (SR) templates from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR-SR) and the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM-SR), compared to traditional non-systematic reports (NSR). METHODS: In a cohort of 30 NSCLC patients, six third-year radiology residents reported CT examinations in two 2-month-apart separate sessions using NSR in the first and NSR, RCR-SR, or SIRM-SR in the second. Couples of expert radiologists and thoracic oncologists in consensus evaluated completeness, accuracy, and clarity. All the quality indicators were expressed on a 100-point scale. The Wilcoxon signed ranks, and Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney tests were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Results showed significantly higher completeness for RCR-SR (90 %) and SIRM-SR (100 %) compared to NSR (70 %) in the second session (all p < 0.001). SIRM-SR demonstrated superior accuracy (70 % vs. 55 %, p < 0.001) over NSR, while RCR-SR and NSR accuracy did not significantly differ (60 % vs. 62.5 %, p = 0.06). In the second session, RCR-SR and SIRM-SR surpassed NSR in completeness, accuracy, and clarity (all p < 0.001, except p = 0.04 for accuracy between RCR-SR and NSR). SIRM-SR outperformed RCR-SR in completeness (100 % vs. 90 %, p < 0.001) and accuracy (70 % vs. 62.5 %, p = 0.002), with equivalent clarity (90 % for both, p = 0.27). CONCLUSIONS: Inexperienced readers using RCR-SR and SIRM-SR demonstrated high-quality reporting, indicating their potential in radiology residency programs to enhance reporting skills for NSCLC staging and effective interaction with all the physicians involved in managing NSCLC patients.

Bridging Communication Gaps Between Radiologists, Referring Physicians, and Patients Through Standardized Structured Cancer Imaging Reporting: The Experience with Female Pelvic MRI Assessment Using O-RADS and a Simulated Cohort Patient Group.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate whether implementing structured reporting based on Ovarian-Adnexal Reporting and Data System (O-RADS) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women with sonographically indeterminate adnexal masses improves communication between radiologists, referrers, and patients/caregivers and enhances diagnostic performance for determining adnexal malignancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed prospectively issued MRI reports in 2019-2022 performed for characterizing adnexal masses before and after implementing O-RADS MRI; 56 patients/caregivers and nine gynecologic oncologists ("referrers") were surveyed about report interpretability/clarity/satisfaction; responses for pre- and post-implementation reports were compared using Fisher's exact and Chi-squared tests. Diagnostic performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: A total of 123 reports from before and 119 reports from after O-RADS MRI implementation were included. Survey response rates were 35.7% (20/56) for patients/caregivers and 66.7% (6/9) for referrers. For patients/caregivers, O-RADS MRI reports were clearer (p < 0.001) and more satisfactory (p < 0.001) than unstructured reports, but interpretability did not differ significantly (p = 0.14), as 28.0% (28/100) of postimplementation and 38.0% (38/100) of preimplementation reports were considered difficult to interpret. For referrers, O-RADS MRI reports were clearer, more satisfactory, and easier to interpret (p < 0.001); only 1.3% (1/77) were considered difficult to interpret. For differentiating benign from malignant adnexal lesions, O-RADS MRI showed area under the curve of 0.92 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.99), sensitivity of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.58-0.95), and specificity of 0.91 (95% CI, 0.83-0.96). Diagnostic performance of reports before implementation could not be calculated due to many different phrases used to describe the likelihood of malignancy. CONCLUSION: Implementing standardized structured reporting using O-RADS MRI for characterizing adnexal masses improved clarity and satisfaction for patients/caregivers and referrers. Interpretability improved for referrers but remained limited for patients/caregivers.

Impact of template-based synoptic reporting on completeness of surgical pathology reports.

Synoptic reporting increases completeness and standardization of surgical pathology reports and thereby contributes to an increased quality of clinical cancer care. Nevertheless, its widespread practical implementation remains a challenge, which is in part related to the effort required for setup and maintenance of database structures. This prompted us to assess the effect of a simple template-based, database-free system for synoptic reporting on completeness of surgical pathology reports. For this purpose, we analyzed 200 synoptic reports (100 colon and 100 lung cancer resections each) for completeness as required by the pertinent College of American Pathologists (CAP) protocols and compared these to a control dataset of 200 narrative reports. Introduction of template-based synoptic reporting resulted in improved completeness (98% of mandatory data elements) as compared to narrative reports (77%). Narrative reports showed a high degree of completeness for data elements covered by previously existing dictation templates. In conclusion, template-based synoptic reporting without underlying database structure can be a useful transitory phase in the implementation of synoptic reporting. It can result in a similar degree of completeness as reported in the literature for database solutions and provides other benefits of synoptic reporting while facilitating its implementation.

Structured Reporting of Head and Neck Sonography Achieves Substantial Interrater Reliability.

Purpose Ultrasound examinations are often criticized for having higher examiner dependency compared to other imaging techniques. Compared to free-text reporting, structured reporting (SR) of head and neck sonography (HNS) achieves superior time efficiency as well as report quality. However, there are no findings concerning the influence of SR on the interrater reliability (IRR) of HNS. Materials and Methods Typical pathologies (n=4) in HNS were documented by video/images by two certified head and neck ultrasound instructors. Consequently, structured reports of these videos/images were created by n=9 senior physicians at departments of otolaryngology or maxillofacial surgery with DEGUM instructors on staff. Reports (n=36) were evaluated regarding overall completeness and IRR. Additionally, user satisfaction was assessed by a visual analog scale (VAS). Results SR yielded very high report completeness (91.8%) in all four cases with a substantial IRR (Fleiss' κ 0.73). Interrater agreement was high at 87.2% with very good user satisfaction (VAS 8.6). Conclusion SR has the potential to ensure high-quality examination reports with substantial comparability and very high user satisfaction. Furthermore, big data collection and analysis are facilitated by SR. Therefore, process quality, workflow, and scientific output are potentially enhanced by SR.

MRI in rectal cancer: An institutional real life analysis of technical parameters.

INTRODUCTION: MRI plays a key role in the preoperative staging of rectal cancers and choice of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy. Yet, the acquisition and interpretation of rectum magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) turn out to be unequal, impacting patients'care. The present study aims at evaluating the quality of the acquisition of technical parameters of the rectal MRI performed by comparing them according to the various guidelines. METHODS: The medical MRI reports of all consecutive patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated in a curative intent, by preoperative RCT and completion surgery were retrospectively reviewed over two periods (January 2010-December 2014 and January 2018 and December 2020) according to international 2012 and 2016 ESGAR and 2017 SAR MRI recommendation reports. RESULTS: During the first period (69 MRI performed), 58% of these MRI abided by the recommendations and 75% of essential criteria could be found in 25.5% of MRI reportings. During the second period (73 MRI performed), the protocol used by 6.8% of MR images abided by the 2016 Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) recommendations and 39.7% abided by the Society of Abdominal Radiology (SAR) recommendations. 75% of essential criteria could be found in 52.3% of MRI reportings and 90% of essential criteria could be found in 6.2% of MRI reportings. DISCUSSION: In an era of increasing individualized patient care and conservative treatment focused on tumour response and prognostic factors, the present study showed that compliance to MRI protocols and reporting guidelines needs improving to upgrade patient care.

Natural language processing to convert unstructured COVID-19 chest-CT reports into structured reports.

Background: Structured reporting has been demonstrated to increase report completeness and to reduce error rate, also enabling data mining of radiological reports. Still, structured reporting is perceived by radiologists as a fragmented reporting style, limiting their freedom of expression. Purpose: A deep learning-based natural language processing method was developed to automatically convert unstructured COVID-19 chest CT reports into structured reports. Methods: Two hundred-two COVID-19 chest CT were retrospectively reviewed by two experienced radiologists, who wrote for each exam a free-form text radiological report and coherently filled the template provided by the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology, used as ground-truth. A semi-supervised convolutional neural network was implemented to extract 62 categorical variables from the report. Two iterations were carried-out, the first without fine-tuning, the second one performing a fine-tuning. The performance was measured using the mean accuracy and the F1 mean score. An error analysis was performed to identify errors entirely attributable to incorrect processing of the model. Results: The algorithm achieved a mean accuracy of 93.7% and an F1 score 93.8% in the first iteration. Most of the errors were exclusively attributable to wrong inference (46%). In the second iteration the model achieved for both parameters 95,8% and percentage of errors attributable to wrong inference decreased to 26%. Conclusions: The convolutional neural network achieved an optimal performance in the automated conversion of free-form text into structured radiological reports, overcoming all the limitation attributed to structured reporting and finally paving the way for data mining of radiological report.

Implementing structured pathology reporting protocol for non-melanocytic skin cancers: practical considerations.

Non-melanocytic skin cancers (NMSCs) account for five times the incidence of all other cancers combined and cost US $6 billion annually. These are the most frequent specimens encountered in community pathology practice in many Western countries. Lack of standardised structured pathology reporting protocols (SPRPs) can result in omission of critical information or miscommunication leading to suboptimal patient management. The lack of standardised data has significant downstream public health implications, including insufficient data for reliable development of prognostic tools and health-economy planning. The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia has developed an NMSC SPRP. A multidisciplinary expert committee including pathologists, surgeons, dermatologists, and radiation and medical oncologists from high volume cancer centres was convened. A systematic literature review was performed to identify evidence for including elements as mandatory standards or best practice guidelines. The SPRP and accompanying commentary of evidence, definitions and criteria was peer reviewed by external stakeholders. Finally, the protocol was revised following feedback and trialled in multiple centres prior to implementation. Some parameters utilised clinically for determining management and prognosis including tumour depth, lymphovascular invasion or distance to the margins lack high level evidence in NMSC. Dermatologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologists welcomed the SPRP. Pathologists indicated that the variety of NMSC specimens ranging from curettes to radical resections as well as significant differences in the biological behaviour of different tumours covered by the NMSC umbrella made use of a single protocol difficult. The feedback included that using a SPRP for low risk NMSC was neither clinically justified nor compensated adequately by the Australian Medicare Reimbursement Schedule. Following stakeholder feedback, the SPRP implementation was restricted to excision specimens of head and neck NMSC; and low-risk NMSC, such as superficial basal cell carcinoma, were excluded. Implementing NMSC SPRP fulfils an unmet clinical need. Unlike other cancers, NMSCs generate a range of specimen types and are reported in a wide range of pathology practices. Limiting use of SPRP to NMSC at higher risk of progression and providing formatted templates for easy incorporation into laboratory information systems were essential to successful deployment. In the future, further consideration should be given to implementing the SPRP to include all relevant specimens, including non-head and neck and low-risk NMSC specimens.

Acute pancreatitis: Structured report template of magnetic resonance imaging.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common acute abdomen disease of the digestive system. It has a potentially fatal risk because of its variable severity and various complications. With the widespread application of the Revised Atlanta Classification, new requirements for AP imaging reports are introduced. Experts in abdominal radiology and pancreatology in the United States published the first structured computed tomography reporting template for AP in 2020. However, there is no corresponding structured magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reporting template globally. Therefore, this article focuses on the structured MRI report of AP images from our pancreatitis imaging center, which is intended to improve the systematic understanding of this disease and standardize the writing of MRI structured reports. In the meantime, we aim to promote the clinical diagnosis and assessment of MRI efficacy for AP and its multiple complications. It is further intended to facilitate academic exchanges and scientific research between different medical centers.

Structured reporting in radiology enables epidemiological analysis through data mining: urolithiasis as a use case.

PURPOSE: To investigate the epidemiology and distribution of disease characteristics of urolithiasis by data mining structured radiology reports. METHODS: The content of structured radiology reports of 2028 urolithiasis CTs was extracted from the department's structured reporting (SR) platform. The investigated cohort represented the full spectrum of a tertiary care center, including mostly symptomatic outpatients as well as inpatients. The prevalences of urolithiasis in general and of nephro- and ureterolithasis were calculated. The distributions of age, sex, calculus size, density and location, and the number of ureteral and renal calculi were calculated. For ureterolithiasis, the impact of calculus characteristics on the degree of possible obstructive uropathy was calculated. RESULTS: The prevalence of urolithiasis in the investigated cohort was 72%. Of those patients, 25% had nephrolithiasis, 40% ureterolithiasis, and 35% combined nephro- and ureterolithiasis. The sex distribution was 2.3:1 (M:F). The median patient age was 50 years (IQR 36-62). The median number of calculi per patient was 1. The median size of calculi was 4 mm, and the median density was 734 HU. Of the patients who suffered from ureterolithiasis, 81% showed obstructive uropathy, with 2nd-degree uropathy being the most common. Calculus characteristics showed no impact on the degree of obstructive uropathy. CONCLUSION: SR-based data mining is a simple method by which to obtain epidemiologic data and distributions of disease characteristics, for the investigated cohort of urolithiasis patients. The added information can be useful for multiple purposes, such as clinical quality assurance, radiation protection, and scientific or economic investigations. To benefit from these, the consistent use of SR is mandatory. However, in clinical routine SR usage can be elaborate and requires radiologists to adapt.

Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Reporting and Data System Version 2.0.

Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Reporting and Data System (PSMA-RADS) was introduced for standardized reporting, and PSMA-RADS version 1.0 allows classification of lesions based on their likelihood of representing a site of prostate cancer on PSMA-targeted positron emission tomography (PET). In recent years, this system has extensively been investigated. Increasing evidence has accumulated that the different categories reflect their actual meanings, such as true positivity in PSMA-RADS 4 and 5 lesions. Interobserver agreement studies demonstrated high concordance among a broad spectrum of 68Ga- or 18F-labeled, PSMA-directed radiotracers, even for less experienced readers. Moreover, this system has also been applied to challenging clinical scenarios and to assist in clinical decision-making, for example, to avoid overtreatment in oligometastatic disease. Nonetheless, with an increasing use of PSMA-RADS 1.0, this framework has shown not only benefits, but also limitations, for example, for follow-up assessment of locally treated lesions. Thus, we aimed to update the PSMA-RADS framework to include a refined set of categories in order to optimize lesion-level characterization and best assist in clinical decision-making (PSMA-RADS version 2.0).

Impact of Structured Reporting of Skeletal Survey in Skeletal Dysplasia: A Single Institution Experience.

Background Structured reporting has the advantages of reducing ambiguity in written radiology reports with greater uniformity and comparability of reports amongst different institutes. It has multiple facets: structured format, structured content, and standardized language. While structured reporting initiative has been used in various radiology subspecialties such as oncology, cardiothoracic, abdominal and interventional radiology; skeletal dysplasia is a domain that remains largely untouched by this concept. Purpose To evaluate the impact of structured reporting in skeletal dysplasia. Methods and Materials This was an ethically approved pragmatic clinical trial. A defined number (75) of clinically diagnosed and/or genetically confirmed skeletal dysplasia radiographs were evaluated by two radiologists (reader A and reader B) with 5-and 7-years' experience in general radiology, respectively. A pre-defined structured reporting format for skeletal dysplasia was used as an interventional tool. Both the readers interpreted the radiographs before and after the training session. In addition to diagnosis, diagnostic confidence was noted using a semiquantitative scale. Improvement in diagnostic accuracy and diagnostic confidence after training were assessed. McNemar's test was used to assess the statistical significance of difference in proportion of correct diagnoses in pre- and post-education phases. An interrater reliability analysis using the Kappa statistic was performed to determine interobserver agreement between readers both in pre- and post-education phases. Results In the post-education phase, the proportion of accurate diagnosis improved from 48% (36/75) to 64% (48/75) for reader A, and from 44% (33/75) to 60% (45/75) for reader B as compared with the pre-education phase. Amongst the cases with a correct radiologic diagnosis, an increase in diagnostic confidence was noted in 18 cases for reader A, and 15 cases for reader B. In none of the cases, there was a reduction in diagnostic confidence after training. A McNemar's test determined that there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of correct diagnoses in pre- and post-education phases, p < 0.001. The interobserver agreement between the readers was found to increase from Kappa = 0.33 ( p = 0.004) using non-structured reporting in pre-education phase to Kappa = 0.46 ( p < 0.001) using structured reporting in the post-education phase. Conclusion A structured reporting of skeletal survey can improve accuracy and confidence in diagnosing skeletal dysplasia.

Automating Structured Results Communication to Expedite Imaging-Directed Care in Spine Oncology.

Cancers frequently metastasize to the spine, where they can cause severe morbidity, including pain, vertebral collapse, and paralysis. Accurate assessment and timely communication of actionable imaging findings are critical. We developed a scoring mechanism to capture the key imaging features of examinations performed to detect and characterize spinal metastases in patients with cancer. An automated system was developed to relay those findings to the institution's spine oncology team to expedite treatment. This report describes the scoring scheme, the automated results communication platform, and initial clinical experience with the system. The scoring system and communication platform enable prompt, imaging-directed care of patients with spinal metastases.