Radiology Reporting: Returning to Our Image-Centric Roots

OBJECTIVE: Despite extraordinary advances in imaging and information technologies, the form and content of radiology reporting has changed little in the discipline's more than 100-year history. In this commentary, we outline the challenges that have confronted innovations such as speech recognition and structured reporting and call for a radical rethinking of the reporting process. By combining new applications with the expanding power of radiology and hospital information systems, the attention of the radiologist--and his or her referring colleagues--could be more focused on the image and its meaning. CONCLUSION: One promising result of such a change in focus could be improved and more reliable communication, already an area of heightened concern in the imaging community. Moreover, such a shift away from the printed word to image-centered content could lead to benefits in shared image viewing; more streamlined and timely reporting; data mining of aggregate results; and image archives, and, ultimately, enhancement of the consultative value of the radiologist's contribution to patient care and treatment.