Necas Martin, Shen Yi, Ong Qi Hao, Prout Kara, Wackrow Wendy
Waikato Hospital Pembroke Street Hamilton 3204 New Zealand.
Australas J Ultrasound Med. 2020 Feb 28;23(3):167-175. doi: 10.1002/ajum.12202. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Sonographers demonstrate a high standard of diagnostic performance and work with a considerable degree of professional independence. In Australasia, sonographers typically generate a preliminary report which is reviewed by the radiologist who issues a final report. The aim of this study was to determine whether radiologist's review is required in cases reported as normal by the sonographer.
This study was a retrospective review of 1000 abdominal US examinations considered normal by sonographers that were subsequently reported by radiologists. Any findings reported by radiologists that were not reported by sonographers were analysed and separated into errors or discrepancies according to commonly accepted definition.
The 1000 abdominal examinations included 244 complete abdominal, 200 hepatobiliary, 506 urinary tract and 50 other abdominal examinations. Patients' age ranged from < 1 to 94 years (mean = 35 years, median = 32 years). US examinations were performed by any one of 14 sonographers with 1-21 years (mean = 6 years, median = 7 years) of clinical experience. Two diagnostic errors were made by sonographers and two errors by radiologists. In no single case did the radiologist uncover a case of an acute or serious illness, illness requiring admission or urgent clinical review, nor did the radiologist identify the cause for the presenting symptoms. Eighteen discrepancies were found, but these were of trivial nature and most were rated by specialist clinicians as irrelevant.
Sonographers are accurate in distinguishing normal abdominal US examinations. The involvement of a radiologist in a second reading of normal abdominal US examinations is unnecessary.
超声检查医师展现出了高标准的诊断能力，并且在工作中拥有相当程度的专业独立性。在澳大拉西亚地区，超声检查医师通常会出具一份初步报告，该报告由放射科医生进行审核，放射科医生随后会出具最终报告。本研究的目的是确定在超声检查医师报告为正常的病例中，是否需要放射科医生进行审核。
本研究是一项回顾性研究，对1000例超声检查医师认为正常的腹部超声检查进行了回顾，这些检查随后由放射科医生进行报告。对放射科医生报告的、超声检查医师未报告的任何发现进行分析，并根据公认的定义将其分为错误或差异。
这1000例腹部检查包括244例全腹部检查、200例肝胆检查、506例泌尿系统检查和50例其他腹部检查。患者年龄范围从小于1岁到94岁（平均=35岁，中位数=32岁）。超声检查由14名超声检查医师中的任何一人进行，他们具有1至21年（平均=6年，中位数=7年）的临床经验。超声检查医师出现了2例诊断错误，放射科医生出现了2例错误。在任何一个病例中，放射科医生都未发现急性或严重疾病、需要住院或紧急临床复查的疾病，也未确定当前症状的病因。发现了18处差异，但这些差异性质轻微，大多数被专科临床医生评定为无关紧要。
超声检查医师在区分正常腹部超声检查方面是准确的。放射科医生参与对正常腹部超声检查的二次阅读是不必要的。
