Detection of incidental adrenal nodules on computed tomography by radiographers

• Published in: Radiography (London, England. 1995) England. 1995), 2022-11, Vol.28 (4), p.1025-1031
• Main Authors: Camilleri, S., Micallef, V., Zarb, F., Borg Grima, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computed tomography; Detection rate; Incidental adrenal nodules; Patient recall
• ISSN: 1078-8174; 1532-2831
• DOI: 10.1016/j.radi.2022.07.005

This research investigated whether radiographers’ age, qualifications, shift rotations and years of post-qualification experience as a radiographer affect the detection rate of incidental adrenal nodules, also known as adrenal incidentalomas in Malta. Additionally, local statistics of adrenal incidentaloma findings were evaluated. This research consisted of two phases and employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional quantitative approach. Phase 1 comprised of a self-designed data collection sheet to retrospectively determine the occurrence of recalled computed tomography (CT) examinations resulting from an adrenal incidentaloma finding during a six-month period between July 2020 and December 2020. In phase 2, a self-designed questionnaire with anonymised CT scan images (n = 30) displayed on ViewDex (Viewer for Digital Evaluation of X-ray images) was prospectively completed by CT radiographers (n = 23) to identify adrenal incidentalomas on the images. In phase 1, adrenal incidentalomas were present in 1.4% of contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) examinations (n = 12139), out of which, 79.8% were not acknowledged by the radiographers on the initial scans and patients had to be recalled for a dedicated adrenal CT scan. In phase 2, a statistically significant (p