Radiodiagosis is a funny thing, isn’t it? You walk into a room, strangely decorated and with an even stranger looking machine in the middle. You then hear some whirring sounds, and are reminded to stay still. The result of this? Some black and white photos of the insides of your body, and some English that you cannot make head or tail out of.

The reports generated by the radiologist are very difficult to understand, especially if you aren’t from a medical background. Radiology reports are mainly a written communication between the radiologists and clinicians who request for the examination. Though you are the subject, the report isn’t for you.

Nowadays, most of the patients have access to their reports, going through their own medical report and understand them gives them a sense of satisfaction and understanding. But radiology reports are written as if they’ll only ever be read by someone with a medical background. So you have 2 options: Do an MBBS, an MD and then have a deep understading of your ailments, or read on below for the next few minutes and not be completely lost.

Ah! I knew you’d choose option 2! Great, let’s begin: A good report is not only about accurate content, but it is also concise, clear and pertinent. Hence most of the radiologists follow a certain reporting format, comprising of :

  • Type of exam
  • Clinical history
  • Comparison
  • Technique
  • Finding
  • Impression

Once we understand these terms, it gives us a broad view of how exactly our report is structured and an idea as to what content will be there inside.

Type of exam

In this section, the radiologist talks about when and what sort of imaging study was performed. E.g. image studying can be computed tomography scan (CT scan), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Ultrasound, X-Ray, etc.

Clinical history

This section mainly contains all your personal details and past medical history. Personal details like age, weight, height, gender, etc. The past medical history plays a very crucial role as radiologists take that as a reference and an exact medical history can help in accurate diagnosis.

Comparison

As the name itself suggests, the radiologist is comparing the patient’s current scan with any of his/her previous scans of the same region.

Technique

This section is esentially for the future reference for radiologists: they note down how the study was performed to obtain the images. Was contrast used? How soon after contrast were the images taken? What is the position of the patient etc. This section basically describes how the technician had taken the images for the understanding of the clinician and other radiologists.

Findings

The findings section is where the jargon reaches a new high! But the way they write it is pretty simple. Imagine you are looking at a photo of a wooden table. If you would have to describe it in a scientific way, you would probably say something like: The specimen is a wooden platform of 100cm x 200cm size, with each leg measuring 125cm at exacty 90degrees to the aforementioned platform. There is a small discolouration on the platform measuring 1cm x 0.5cm, 70cm from the top side and 22cm from the left side (etc etc.) While obviously a radiologist looks at more complex images (like your brain!), the method is pretty much the same. The radiologist would note which parts of your brain are “unremarkable” (That’s a good thing here!”), and which parts show abnormality or damage.

Impression

This is the final section where everything is summarized: the findings, medical history, and other factors. It is considered to be the most critical piece of the radiology report. Usually, the clinicians directly move to this section to get an overall idea and start planning their treatment.

So there you have it: 5C’s 5 minute crash course in understanding your report. So find those reports if you haven’t thrown them already and give it a read! « This will soon be: Login to 5C and see all your reports and scans online in your very own medical cloud! ;) »