Are clinically unimportant findings qualified as benign in lumbar spine imaging reports? A content analysis of plain X-ray, CT and MRI reports

Lumbar spine diagnostic imaging reports may cause patient and clinician concern when clinically unimportant findings are not explicitly described as benign. Our primary aim was to determine the frequency that common, benign findings are reported in lumbar spine plain X-ray, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reports as either normal for age or likely clinically unimportant.