TY - JOUR
T1 - Abdominal and pelvic CT scan interpretation of emergency medicine physicians compared with radiologists’ report and its impact on patients’ outcome
AU - Bagheri-Hariri, Shahram
AU - Ayoobi-Yazdi, Niloofar
AU - Afkar, Mo
AU - Farahmand, Shervin
AU - Arbab, Mona
AU - Shahlafar, Neda
AU - Basirghafoori, Hamed
AU - Seyedhoseini-Davarani, Seyedhosien
AU - Sedaghat, Mojtaba
AU - Akhgar, Atoosa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, American Society of Emergency Radiology.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Purpose: In this study, the impact of contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scan interpretations by emergency medicine team on patients’ morbidity and mortality was evaluated and their interpretations were compared to radiologists’ reports. Methods: During a 3-month period, all patients who had undergone a contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scan at the emergency department enrolled in this study. All CT scans were interpreted blindly by the emergency medicine (ED) attending physicians and the patients were treated accordingly. Radiologists reported all the CT scans within 12 h. Radiologists’ reports were put into the agreement or disagreement group retrospectively. A panel of experts further evaluated the disagreement groups’ medical charts and placed them in clinically significant or insignificant group based on the follow-up for 28 days. Results: In this study, 170 CT scans were interpreted. The agreement rate was 68.2%. In the clinically significant disagreement group, eight patients did not receive the required treatment and three patients were over treated. Although the overall mortality rate was 5, none could have been prevented by a prompt radiologist’s report. The disagreement group had longer hospital stay (p = 0.006) and transfer to other wards (p = 0.035). The inter-rater reliability between emergency medicine attending physicians and attending radiologists was substantial (kappa = 0.77) and statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our findings support the cautious use of ED physicians’ CT scan interpretations for patients’ management. Ideally, the ED physicians should utilize a real-time radiologist interpretation in critical patients. This collaboration will result in better patient management.
AB - Purpose: In this study, the impact of contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scan interpretations by emergency medicine team on patients’ morbidity and mortality was evaluated and their interpretations were compared to radiologists’ reports. Methods: During a 3-month period, all patients who had undergone a contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scan at the emergency department enrolled in this study. All CT scans were interpreted blindly by the emergency medicine (ED) attending physicians and the patients were treated accordingly. Radiologists reported all the CT scans within 12 h. Radiologists’ reports were put into the agreement or disagreement group retrospectively. A panel of experts further evaluated the disagreement groups’ medical charts and placed them in clinically significant or insignificant group based on the follow-up for 28 days. Results: In this study, 170 CT scans were interpreted. The agreement rate was 68.2%. In the clinically significant disagreement group, eight patients did not receive the required treatment and three patients were over treated. Although the overall mortality rate was 5, none could have been prevented by a prompt radiologist’s report. The disagreement group had longer hospital stay (p = 0.006) and transfer to other wards (p = 0.035). The inter-rater reliability between emergency medicine attending physicians and attending radiologists was substantial (kappa = 0.77) and statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our findings support the cautious use of ED physicians’ CT scan interpretations for patients’ management. Ideally, the ED physicians should utilize a real-time radiologist interpretation in critical patients. This collaboration will result in better patient management.
KW - Abdomen and pelvic CT scan
KW - CT scan reports
KW - Emergency department
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026920533&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85026920533&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10140-017-1542-2
DO - 10.1007/s10140-017-1542-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 28786040
AN - SCOPUS:85026920533
SN - 1070-3004
VL - 24
SP - 675
EP - 680
JO - Emergency Radiology
JF - Emergency Radiology
IS - 6
ER -