MONDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Adding a photograph of a face to pairs of radiographs can increase the radiologists' detection rate of mislabeling errors, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society, held from April 14 to 19 in Washington, D.C.
Srini Tridandapani, M.D., from Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues examined whether facial photographs obtained at the same time as radiographs would increase the detection rate of mislabeling errors. Twenty pairs of chest radiographs (one recent and one prior radiograph) were presented for reader review, with each list containing two to four mismatched pairs. A second list, also comprising 20 pairs, including two to four mismatched pairs, was presented together with photographs of the patients obtained at the time of imaging and attached to the radiographs.
The researchers observed a significant difference in the error detection rates without (12.5 percent) and with (64 percent) the photographs. There was a difference in the average interpretation time between those without and with photographs (33.9 and 26.5 minutes, respectively; P = 0.2511).
"X-rays can look alike, and if one patient's images are confused with another before the radiologist sees them, it can be difficult for the radiologist sees them, it can be difficult for the radiologist to determine there is a mismatch," Tridandapani said in a statement.
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