Brown, PJ, Rossington, H orcid.org/0000-0002-4570-2730, Taylor, J orcid.org/0000-0002-2518-5799 et al. (5 more authors) (2019) Standardised reports with a template format are superior to free text reports: the case for rectal cancer reporting in clinical practice. European Radiology, 29 (9). pp. 5121-5128. ISSN 0938-7994
Abstract
Purpose: Rectal cancer staging with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows accurate assessment and preoperative staging of rectal cancers. Therefore, complete MRI reports are vital to treatment planning. Significant variability may exist in their content and completeness. Template-style reporting can improve reporting standards, but its use is not widespread. Given the implications for treatment, we have evaluated current clinical practice amongst specialist gastrointestinal (GI) radiologists to measure the quality of rectal cancer staging MRI reports.
Materials and methods: Sixteen United Kingdom (UK) colorectal cancer multi-disciplinary teams (CRC-MDTs) serving a population over 5 million were invited to submit up to 10 consecutive rectal cancer primary staging MRI reports from January 2016 for each radiologist participating in the CRC-MDT. Reports were compared to a reference standard based on recognised staging and prognostic factors influencing case management
Results: Four hundred ten primary staging reports were submitted from 41 of 42 (97.6%) eligible radiologists. Three hundred sixty reports met the inclusion criteria, of these, 81 (22.5%) used a template. Template report usage significantly increased recording of key data points versus non-template reports for extra-mural venous invasion (EMVI) status (98.8% v 51.6%, p < 0.01) and circumferential resection margin (CRM) status (96.3% v 65.9%, p < 0.01). Local tumour stage (97.5% v 93.5%, NS) and nodal status (98.8% v 96.1%, NS) were reported and with similar frequency.
Conclusion: Rectal cancer primary staging reports do not meet published standards. Template-style reports have significant increases in the inclusion of key tumour descriptors. This study provides further support for their use to improve reporting standards and outcomes in rectal cancer.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. This is an author produced version of a paper published in European Radiology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Rectal cancer; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical audit; Template-reporting |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > Institute of Molecular Medicine (LIMM) (Leeds) > Section of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology (LICAP) > Pathology & Tumour Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Yorkshire Cancer Research L394 Cancer Research UK C23434/A23706 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 01 Mar 2019 12:10 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:44 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00330-019-06028-8 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:143086 |
Download
Filename: Brown2019_Article_StandardisedReportsWithATempla.pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0