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European Journal of Epidemiology
Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology 1/2016

Open Access 01-01-2016 | COMMENTARY

Incidental findings in population imaging revisited

Authors: Eline M. Bunnik, Meike W. Vernooij

Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology | Issue 1/2016

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Excerpt

Imaging techniques are deployed in human subjects research on an increasingly large scale. Worldwide, images of the brain, the abdomen or the whole body are acquired in clinical and population-based cohort studies, and in neuroscience, cognitive science and behavioural science studies. Many of these imaging studies are performed in volunteers who are presumed healthy and free of any symptoms. Yet, even in healthy volunteers, structural abnormalities are detected quite frequently, in approximately 2–3 % of MRI scans of the brain [1, 2], and possibly in over a third of whole-body MRI scans [3]. So-called incidental findings may be of clinical or reproductive significance to research participants. Incidental findings have commonly been regarded as findings that are unrelated to the aims of the study and are discovered unexpectedly in the course of conducting research [4]. …
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Metadata
Title
Incidental findings in population imaging revisited
Authors
Eline M. Bunnik
Meike W. Vernooij
Publication date
01-01-2016
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
European Journal of Epidemiology / Issue 1/2016
Print ISSN: 0393-2990
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7284
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0123-0

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