Top

Published in:

01-12-2020 | Original Article

Improving radiologic communication in oncology: a single-centre experience with structured reporting for cancer patients

Authors: Tim Frederik Weber, Manuela Spurny, Felix Christian Hasse, Oliver Sedlaczek, Georg Martin Haag, Christoph Springfeld, Theresa Mokry, Dirk Jäger, Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, Anne Katrin Berger

Published in: Insights into Imaging | Issue 1/2020

Abstract

Objectives

Our aim was to develop a structured reporting concept (structured oncology report, SOR) for general follow-up assessment of cancer patients in clinical routine. Furthermore, we analysed the report quality of SOR compared to conventional reports (CR) as assessed by referring oncologists.

Methods

SOR was designed to provide standardised layout, tabulated tumour burden documentation and standardised conclusion using uniform terminology. A software application for reporting was programmed to ensure consistency of layout and vocabulary and to facilitate utilisation of SOR. Report quality was analysed for 25 SOR and 25 CR retrospectively by 6 medical oncologists using a 7-point scale (score 1 representing the best score) for 6 questionnaire items addressing different elements of report quality and overall satisfaction. A score of ≤ 3 was defined as a positive rating.

Results

In the first year after full implementation, 7471 imaging examinations were reported using SOR. The proportion of SOR in relation to all oncology reports increased from 49 to 95% within a few months. Report quality scores were better for SOR for each questionnaire item (p < 0.001 each). Averaged over all questionnaire item scores were 1.98 ± 1.22 for SOR and 3.05 ± 1.93 for CR (p < 0.001). The overall satisfaction score was 2.15 ± 1.32 for SOR and 3.39 ± 2.08 for CR (p < 0.001). The proportion of positive ratings was higher for SOR (89% versus 67%; p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Department-wide structured reporting for follow-up imaging performed for assessment of anticancer treatment efficacy is feasible using a dedicated software application. Satisfaction of referring oncologist with report quality is superior for structured reports.

Pinto Dos Santos D, Hempel JM, Mildenberger P, Klöckner R, Persigehl T (2018) Structured reporting in clinical routine. Rofo 191:33–39. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-0636-3851

Dunnick NR, Langlotz CP (2008) The radiology report of the future: a summary of the 2007 Intersociety Conference. J Am Coll Radiol 5:626–629

Beets-Tan RGH, Lambregts DMJ, Maas M et al (2018) Magnetic resonance imaging for clinical management of rectal cancer: updated recommendations from the 2016 European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) consensus meeting. Eur Radiol 28:1465–1475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-017-5026-2CrossRefPubMed

Al-Hawary MM, Francis IR, Chari ST et al (2014) Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma radiology reporting template: consensus statement of the Society of Abdominal Radiology and the American Pancreatic Association. Radiology 270:248–260. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.13131184CrossRefPubMed

Nörenberg D, Sommer WH, Thasler W et al (2017) Structured reporting of rectal magnetic resonance imaging in suspected primary rectal cancer. Invest Radiol 52:232–239. https://doi.org/10.1097/RLI.0000000000000336CrossRefPubMed

Sahni VA, Silveira PC, Sainani NI, Khorasani R (2015) Impact of a structured report template on the quality of MRI reports for rectal cancer staging. AJR Am J Roentgenol 205:584–588. https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.14.14053CrossRefPubMed

Brown PJ, Rossington H, Taylor J et al (2019) Standardised reports with a template format are superior to free text reports: the case for rectal cancer reporting in clinical practice. Eur Radiol 29:5121–5128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-019-06028-8CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Brook OR, Brook A, Vollmer CM, Kent TS, Sanchez N, Pedrosa I (2015) Structured reporting of multiphasic CT for pancreatic cancer: potential effect on staging and surgical planning. Radiology 274:464–472. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.14140206

Wetterauer C, Winkel DJ, Federer-Gsponer JR et al (2019) Structured reporting of prostate magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to improve interdisciplinary communication. PLoS One 14:e0212444. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212444CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

10.

Poullos PD, Tseng JJ, Melcher ML, et al (2018) Structured reporting of multiphasic CT for hepatocellular carcinoma: effect on staging and suitability for transplant. AJR Am J Roentgenol 210:766–774. doi: https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.17.18725

11.

Flusberg M, Ganeles J, Ekinci T et al (2017) Impact of a structured report template on the quality of CT and MRI reports for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis. J Am Coll Radiol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2017.02.050

12.

Therasse P, Arbuck SG, Eisenhauer EA et al (2000) New guidelines to evaluate the response to treatment in solid tumors. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, National Cancer Institute of the United States, National Cancer Institute of Canada. J Natl Cancer Inst 92:205–216. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/92.3.205CrossRefPubMed

13.

Naik SS, Hanbidge A, Wilson SR (2001) Radiology reports: examining radiologist and clinician preferences regarding style and content. AJR Am J Roentgenol 176:591–598. https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.176.3.1760591CrossRefPubMed

14.

Travis AR, Sevenster M, Ganesh R, Peters JF, Chang PJ (2014) Preferences for structured reporting of measurement data: an institutional survey of medical oncologists, oncology registrars, and radiologists. Acad Radiol 21:785–796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2014.02.008

15.

Eisenhauer EA, Therasse P, Bogaerts J et al (2009) New response evaluation criteria in solid tumours: revised RECIST guideline (version 1.1). Eur J Cancer 45:228–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2008.10.026CrossRefPubMed

16.

Gwet KL (2016) Testing the difference of correlated agreement coefficients for statistical significance. Educ Psychol Meas 76:609–637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164415596420CrossRefPubMed

17.

Cicchetti DV, Feinstein AR (1990) High agreement but low kappa: II. Resolving the paradoxes. J Clin Epidemiol 43:551–558. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(90)90159-mCrossRefPubMed

18.

Landis JR, Koch GG (1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33:159–174CrossRefPubMed

19.

European Society of Radiology (ESR) (2011) Good practice for radiological reporting. Guidelines from the European Society of Radiology (ESR). Insights Imaging 2:93–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-011-0066-7CrossRef

20.

European Society of Radiology (ESR) (2013) ESR communication guidelines for radiologists. Insights Imaging 4:143–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-013-0218-zCrossRef

21.

European Society of Radiology (ESR) (2012) ESR guidelines for the communication of urgent and unexpected findings. Insights Imaging 3:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-011-0135-yCrossRef

22.

European Society of Radiology (ESR) (2018) ESR paper on structured reporting in radiology. Insights Imaging 9:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-017-0588-8CrossRef

23.

Nobel JM, Kok EM, Robben SGF (2020) Redefining the structure of structured reporting in radiology. Insights Imaging 11:10–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-019-0831-6CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

24.

Weiss DL, Bolos PR (2009) Reporting and Dictation. In: Branstetter B (ed) Practical imaging informatics. Springer Science & Business Media, pp 147–162

25.

Schwartz LH, Panicek DM, Berk AR, Li Y, Hricak H (2011) Improving communication of diagnostic radiology findings through structured reporting. Radiology 260:174–181. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.11101913

26.

Johnson AJ, Chen MY, Zapadka ME, Lyders EM, Littenberg B (2010) Radiology report clarity: a cohort study of structured reporting compared with conventional dictation. J Am Coll Radiol 7:501–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2010.02.008

27.

Folio LR, Nelson CJ, Benjamin M, Ran A, Engelhard G, Bluemke DA (2015) Quantitative radiology reporting in oncology: survey of oncologists and radiologists. AJR Am J Roentgenol 205:W233–W243. https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.14.14054

28.

Schoeppe F, Sommer WH, Nörenberg D et al (2018) Structured reporting adds clinical value in primary CT staging of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Eur Radiol 28:3702–3709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5340-3CrossRefPubMed

29.

Larson DB, Towbin AJ, Pryor RM, Donnelly LF (2013) Improving consistency in radiology reporting through the use of department-wide standardized structured reporting. Radiology 267:240–250. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.12121502CrossRefPubMed

30.

Goldberg-Stein S, Walter WR, Amis ES Jr, Scheinfeld MH (2016) Implementing a structured reporting initiative using a collaborative multi-step approach. Curr Probl Diagn Radiol 46:295–299. https://doi.org/10.1067/j.cpradiol.2016.12.004CrossRefPubMed

31.

Olthof AW, Borstlap J, Roeloffzen WW, van Ooijen PMA (2018) Improvement of radiology reporting in a clinical cancer network: impact of an optimised multidisciplinary workflow. Eur Radiol 28:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5427-x

32.

Gormly KL (2009) Standardised tumour, node and metastasis reporting of oncology CT scans. J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol 53:345–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-9485.2009.02090.xCrossRefPubMed

33.

Weiss DL, Langlotz CP (2008) Structured reporting: patient care enhancement or productivity nightmare? Radiology 249:739–747. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2493080988CrossRefPubMed

34.

Gassenmaier S, Armbruster M, Haasters F et al (2017) Structured reporting of MRI of the shoulder - improvement of report quality? Eur Radiol 27:4110–4119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-017-4778-zCrossRefPubMed

35.

Schöppe F, Sommer WH, Schmidutz F et al (2018) Structured reporting of x-rays for atraumatic shoulder pain: advantages over free text? BMC Med Imaging 18:20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12880-018-0262-8CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

36.

Sabel BO, Plum JL, Czihal M et al (2018) Structured reporting of CT angiography runoff examinations of the lower extremities. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 55:679–687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejvs.2018.01.026CrossRefPubMed

37.

Dos Santos DP, Klos G, Kloeckner R, Oberle R, Dueber C, Mildenberger P (2016) Development of an IHE MRRT-compliant open-source web-based reporting platform. Eur Radiol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-016-4344-0

Title: Improving radiologic communication in oncology: a single-centre experience with structured reporting for cancer patients
Authors: Tim Frederik Weber
Manuela Spurny
Felix Christian Hasse
Oliver Sedlaczek
Georg Martin Haag
Christoph Springfeld
Theresa Mokry
Dirk Jäger
Hans-Ulrich Kauczor
Anne Katrin Berger
Publication date: 01-12-2020
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Insights into Imaging / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1869-4101
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-020-00907-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Improving radiologic communication in oncology: a single-centre experience with structured reporting for cancer patients

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2020

Artificial intelligence-based education assists medical students’ interpretation of hip fracture

Radiological manifestations of thoracic hydatid cysts: pulmonary and extrapulmonary findings

Multimodality imaging features of desmoid tumors: a head-to-toe spectrum

COVID-19 pneumonia: the great radiological mimicker

Colorectal liver metastases: radiopathological correlation

Diffusion processes modeling in magnetic resonance imaging