Study of Health in Pomerania /KEF, University Medicine of Greifswald, Institute for Community Medicine, Walther Rathenau Str. 48, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.
Eur Radiol. 2013 May;23(5):1343-51. doi: 10.1007/s00330-012-2723-8. Epub 2012 Dec 13.
Little is known about the psychosocial impact and subjective interpretation of communicated incide ntal findings from whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (wb-MRI). This was addressed with this general population study.
Data was based on the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), Germany. SHIP comprised a 1.5-T wb-MRI examination. A postal survey was conducted among the first 471 participants, aged 23-84 years, who received a notification about incidental findings (response 86.0 %, n = 405). The severity of incidental findings was assessed from the participants' and radiologists' perspective.
In total, 394 participants (97.3 %) wanted to learn about their health by undergoing wb-MRI. Strong distress while waiting for a potential notification of an incidental finding was reported by 40 participants (9.9 %), whereas 116 (28.6 %) reported moderate to severe psychological distress thereafter. Strong disagreement was noted between the subjective and radiological evaluation of the findings' severity (kappa = 0.02). Almost all participants (n = 389, 96.0 %) were very satisfied with their examination.
Despite the high satisfaction of most participants, there were numerous adverse consequences concerning the communication of incidental findings and false expectations about the likely potential benefits of whole-body-MRI.
• Disclosed incidental findings from MRI may lead to substantial psychosocial distress. • Subjective and radiological evaluations of incidental findings' severity differ strongly. • Disclosing incidental findings is strongly endorsed by study volunteers. • Study volunteers tend to have false expectations about potential benefits from MRI. • Minimizing stress in study volunteers should be a key aim in MRI research.
全身磁共振成像（wb-MRI）偶然发现的影像学结果对人们心理社会的影响以及人们对其主观解读知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨这一问题。
本研究基于德国的波罗的海健康研究（SHIP）。SHIP 研究包括 1.5-T wb-MRI 检查。对年龄在 23-84 岁间的前 471 名参与者（应答率 86.0%，n=405）进行了一项基于邮寄的调查，这些参与者收到了偶然发现的通知。从参与者和放射科医生的角度评估偶然发现的严重程度。
共有 394 名参与者（97.3%）希望通过 wb-MRI 了解自己的健康状况。有 40 名参与者（9.9%）在等待潜在偶然发现通知时感到强烈不适，而此后 116 名参与者（28.6%）报告了中度至重度心理困扰。发现的严重程度的主观评估与放射学评估之间存在显著分歧（kappa=0.02）。几乎所有参与者（n=389，96.0%）对他们的检查非常满意。
尽管大多数参与者满意度很高，但在沟通偶然发现和对全身 MRI 可能带来的潜在益处的错误期望方面，仍存在许多不良后果。
磁共振成像偶然发现的影像学结果可能导致重大心理社会困扰。
偶然发现严重程度的主观评估与放射学评估差异显著。
研究志愿者强烈支持披露偶然发现。
研究志愿者往往对 MRI 带来的潜在益处抱有错误的期望。
最大限度地减少研究志愿者的压力应成为 MRI 研究的一个关键目标。
