Reporting Guidance for Oncologic 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging

open access

Journal of Nuclear Medicine, published on April 10, 2013 as doi:10.2967/jnumed.112.112177

 " The written report (or its electronic counterpart) is the primary
mode of communication between the physician interpreting an
imaging study and the referring physician. The content of this
report not only influences patient management and clinical
outcomes but also serves as legal documentation of services
provided and can be used to justify medical necessity, billing
accuracy, and regulatory compliance. Generating a high-quality
PET/CT report is perhaps more challenging than generating
a report for other imaging studies because of the complexity of
this hybrid imaging modality. This article discusses the essential
elements of a concise and complete oncologic 18F-FDG PET/
CT report and illustrates these elements through examples
taken from routine clinical practice......

".....Finally, imaging physicians should be aware that referring
physicians at many institutions now make the reports of
imaging studies directly available to patients. This is an
additional incentive to avoid emotional terminology (e.g.,
dramatic increase or too numerous to count), which is generally
unhelpful and might provoke unnecessary patient
anxiety."