Radiologists who attend tumor boards record fewer errors
Radiologists who regularly participate in tumor boards are less likely to commit interpretation errors, according to a new study published in Clinical Radiology.
The researchers compared 607 examinations with confirmed diagnostic errors to radiologists’ years of experience and history of participating in tumor boards (TB) and found that TB attendance was associated with reduced errors. This finding was consistent across the board, regardless of how long the radiologists had been practicing post-fellowship.
“Despite decades of awareness of the existence of radiological errors, and attempts to understand the factors that influence them, the rates of detected errors have remained constant overall,” corresponding author V. Ivanovic, of the Department of Radiology, Section of Neuroradiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and co-authors discussed. “There is no published literature studying the impact of the radiologists' attendance at the multidisciplinary tumor boards (TBs) on the radiological errors.”
The University of California, Davis researchers conducted their pilot study by first searching their institution’s Neuroradiology Quality Assurance Database of diagnostic errors to track down exams that contained errors between 2014 and 2020. After singling out 607 examinations, the interpreting radiologist’s attendance at Head and Neck (H&N), Brain, Skull Base (SKB) and Pediatric Neuroradiology (PN) tumor boards (TB) as the presenting radiologist was then documented. Frequency of TB attendance, post-fellowship clinical years of practice and error rates were compared using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients.
For the 11 neuroradiologists whose interpretations were analyzed, associations were observed between tumor board attendance and decreased error rates. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients between total TB participation and total H&N, SKB, and Brain error rates were: –0.89 (p=0.0002); –0.81 (p=0.002); –0.66 (p=0.03); –0.82 (p=0.002). In every comparison other than pediatric neuroradiology tumor boards and related error rates, the metrics reached statistical significance.
Of note, the authors highlighted the ages and career stage of the radiologists included in their research relative to TB participation. Those who were on the path to retirement were more likely to commit errors and less likely to attend tumor boards. In contrast, mid-career radiologists participated in boards more frequently and committed fewer errors.
“The present findings argue for increased (for those early in their career) or continued (for those advanced in their career) TB attendance, where exposure to complex cases and awareness of sources of misses that become evident in the TB setting could be a way to maintain or improve the accuracy of interpretations during routine clinical care,” the authors concluded.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.