Computer-aided detection system for chest radiography: reducing report turnaround times of examinations with abnormalities

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The ability to give high priority to examinations with pathological findings could be very useful to radiologists with large work lists who wish to first evaluate the most critical studies. A computer-aided detection (CAD) system for identifying chest examinations with abnormalities has therefore been developed. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a CAD system on report turnaround times of chest examinations with abnormalities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The CAD system was designed to automatically mark chest examinations with possible abnormalities in the work list of radiologists interpreting chest examinations. The system evaluation was performed in two phases: two radiologists interpreted the chest examinations without CAD in phase 1 and with CAD in phase 2. The time information recorded by the radiology information system was then used to calculate the turnaround times. All chest examinations were reviewed by two other radiologists and were divided into normal and abnormal groups. The turnaround times for the examinations with pathological findings with and without the CAD system assistance were compared. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of the CAD for chest abnormalities were 0.790 and 0.697, respectively, and use of the CAD system decreased the turnaround time for chest examinations with abnormalities by 44%. CONCLUSION: The turnaround times required for radiologists to identify chest examinations with abnormalities could be reduced by using the CAD system. This system could be useful for radiologists with large work lists who wish to first evaluate the most critical studies.