Radiologists, Primary Care Physicians, and Terminology

Most radiologists and primary care providers (PCSs) agree regarding significance of evaluated radiology terminology, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Researchers from Missouri and Massachusetts undertook a study to assess the lexicon used by radiologists and referring physicians, and their respective interpretations. Using an internal listserv, the researchers sent a survey to radiologists and PCPs, asking about their interpretation of the statistical likelihood of the presence of metastatic disease based upon the terminology used within a hypothetical radiology report. Ten common modifying terms were evaluated. Potential responses for the statistical likelihoods included:

• 0%to 25%

• 26% to 50%

• 51% to 75%

• 76% to 99%

•100%

The results showed that the “diagnostic for metastatic disease” and “represents metastatic disease” were selected by a high percentage of both groups as conferring a 100% likelihood of “true metastatic disease.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"52042","attributes":{"alt":"Radiology terminology","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_4561102695746","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"6447","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"height: 164px; width: 170px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin: 1px; float: right;","title":"©Modella/Shutterstock.com","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

The phrases “cannot exclude metastatic disease” and “may represent metastatic disease” were selected by a high proportion of both groups as conferring a 0%likelihood of “true metastatic disease.” The radiologists assigned a higher statistical likelihood to the terms “diagnostic for metastatic disease”, “represents metastatic disease”, “suspicious for metastatic disease”, “consistent with metastatic disease”, and “compatible with metastatic disease” (P = .003).

The researchers concluded that a “qualitative agreement among radiologists and PCPs exists concerning the significance of the evaluated terminology, although radiologists assigned a higher statistical likelihood than PCPs for several phrases.”