The Search Patterns of Abdominal Imaging Subspecialists for Abdominal Computed Tomography: Toward a Foundational Pattern for New Radiology Residents

Abstract

Objectives: The routine search patterns used by subspecialty abdominal imaging experts to inspect the image volumes of abdominal/pelvic computed tomography (CT) have not been well characterized or rendered in practical or teachable terms. The goal of this study is to describe the search patterns used by experienced subspecialty imagers when reading a normal abdominal CT at a modern picture archiving and communication system workstation, and utilize this information to propose guidelines for residents as they learn to interpret CT during training. Material and Methods: Twenty-two academic subspecialists enacted their routine search pattern on a normal contrast-enhanced abdominal/pelvic CT study under standardized display parameters. Readers were told that the scan was normal and then asked to verbalize where their gaze centered and moved through the axial, coronal, and sagittal image stacks, demonstrating eye position with a cursor as needed. A peer coded the reported eye gaze movements and scrilling behavior. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between years of professional experience and the numbers of passes through the lung bases, liver, kidneys, and bowel. Results: All readers followed an initial organ-by-organ approach. Larger organs were examined by drilling, while smaller organs by oscillation or scanning. Search elements were classified as drilling, scanning, oscillation, and scrilling (scan drilling); these categories were parsed as necessary. The greatest variability was found in the examination the body wall and bowel/mesentery. Two modes of scrilling were described, and these classified as roaming and zigzagging. The years of experience of the readers did not correlated to number of passes made through the lung bases, liver, kidneys, or bowel. Conclusion: Subspecialty abdominal radiologists negotiate through the image stacks of an abdominal CT study in broadly similar ways. Collation of the approaches suggests a foundational search pattern for new trainees.

When Not to Operate on Acute Cases—A Surgeon’s Perspective on Rapid Assessment of Emergency Abdominopelvic Computed Tomography

“…The influence of clinical information on reporting was demonstrated in a prospective blinded study that analyzed the results written before and after clinical input. Inconsistent clinical details have a detrimental effect, while accurate information improves the quality of a report [15][16][17][18]. When expert readers assess CTs, they use three techniques: drilling, scanning, and "scrilling".…”

Computer Vision and Machine-Learning Techniques for Automatic 3D Virtual Images Overlapping During Augmented Reality Guided Robotic Partial Nephrectomy

“… 3 These techniques, although very important and informative, have intrinsic limits, such as bi-dimensionality of the image and the minimum contrast-enhancement difference between some organs. 4 The surgeon, in fact, needs to perform a building in mind process to completely understand the anatomy and the spatial relationships between the intraabdominal organs’, healthy and pathological tissues. This is why three-dimensional virtual models (3DVMs) have gained popularity overtime and represent perfect tools to reach the goals set by precision medicine.…”