Perceptual omission errors in Positron emission tomography/Computed tomography reporting.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nOmission errors in medical imaging can lead to missed diagnosis and harm to patients. The subject has been studied in conventional imaging, but no data is available for functional imaging in general and for PET/CT in particular. In this work, we evaluated the frequency and characteristics of perceptual omission errors in the PET component of oncologic PET/CT imaging and we analyze the hazardous scenarios prone to such modality-specific errors.\n\n\nMATERIALS AND METHODS\nPerceptual omission errors were collected in one tertiary center PET/CT clinic during routine PET/CT reporting over a 26-month period. The omissions were detected either in reporting follow-up PET/CT studies of the same patient or during multidisciplinary meetings.\n\n\nRESULTS\nSignificant omission errors were found in 1.2 % of the 2100 reports included in the study. The most common omissions were bone metastases and focal colon uptake. We identified six PET-specific causative factors contributing to the occurrence of omissions, and we propose solutions to minimize their influence.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe data presented here can help to promote the awareness of interpreting physicians to body areas that require higher attention and to implement reading strategies for improving the accuracy of PET/CT interpretation.