Dear AuntMinnie Member,
If Domino's customers can track the order status of their pizza with a smartphone app, why can't healthcare providers use a similar technology to track their patients?
It's not just a rhetorical question. New research from Emory University found that emergency physicians often ordered duplicate x-ray and CT scans of the same body part -- most likely because they didn't know if their original order had been completed.
The Emory researchers found that even if images were available in the PACS after the study was completed, emergency physicians were often in the dark as to when the report might be delivered. So they ordered another study to be performed -- a phenomenon that occurred in half of the more than 3,600 cases studied.
Would it help if we could track patients like we track pizzas? Learn more about the study by clicking here, or visit our Digital X-Ray Community at xray.auntminnie.com.
Impact of breast MRI
New research published today in JAMA Oncology is raising questions about the downstream effects of preoperative breast MRI scans.
In the study, Canadian researchers analyzed the type and number of short-term outcomes in women who had presurgical breast MRI exams. They found that these women experienced higher rates of needle biopsies, mastectomies, and additional imaging, as well as longer delays between diagnosis and surgery. The group concluded that preoperative breast MRI could be leading to overtreatment, especially given the lack of strong clinical guidelines for the technology's use.
But the study didn't provide any data on long-term clinical outcomes: namely, whether breast MRI led to higher cancer survival rates. Is that a fatal flaw? Decide for yourself by clicking here, or visit our MRI Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
Medicolegal issues with CAD marks
In our Imaging Informatics Community, we wrap up our two-part series on medicolegal issues in PACS, featuring the thoughts of Dr. Eliot Siegel. In the second article, Dr. Siegel addresses what to do with computer-aided detection (CAD) markings from studies that have been completed and archived.
It's not an easy decision. Some informatics experts believe that CAD markings should be retained indefinitely along with the original images, while others believe that CAD markings aren't accepted as part of the patient's medical record, and therefore CAD marks should be discarded.
Read more by clicking here, or visit the community at informatics.auntminnie.com.
