RadPath: A Web-based System for Integrating and Correlating Radiology and Pathology Findings During Cancer Diagnosis

Corey W Arnold; W Dean Wallace; Shawn Chen; Andrea Oh; Fereidoun Abtin; Scott Genshaft; Scott Binder; Denise Aberle; Dieter Enzmann

doi:10.1016/j.acra.2015.09.009

RadPath: A Web-based System for Integrating and Correlating Radiology and Pathology Findings During Cancer Diagnosis

Acad Radiol. 2016 Jan;23(1):90-100. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2015.09.009. Epub 2015 Oct 27.

Authors

Corey W Arnold¹, W Dean Wallace², Shawn Chen³, Andrea Oh³, Fereidoun Abtin³, Scott Genshaft³, Scott Binder², Denise Aberle³, Dieter Enzmann³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, 924 Westwood Blvd Ste 420, Los Angeles CA, 90024. Electronic address: cwarnold@ucla.edu.
² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
³ Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, 924 Westwood Blvd Ste 420, Los Angeles CA, 90024.

PMID: 26521686
DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2015.09.009

Abstract

Rationale and objectives: The current paradigm of cancer diagnosis involves uncoordinated communication of findings from radiology and pathology to downstream physicians. Discordance between these findings can require additional time from downstream users to resolve, or given incorrect resolution, may adversely impact treatment decisions. To mitigate this problem, we developed a web-based system, called RadPath, for correlating and integrating radiology and pathology reporting.

Materials and methods: RadPath includes interfaces to our institution's clinical information systems, which are used to retrieve reports, images, and test results that are structured into an interactive compendium for a diagnostic patient case. The system includes an editing interface for physicians, allowing for the inclusion of additional clinical data, as well as the ability to retrospectively correlate and contextualize imaging findings following pathology diagnosis.

Results: During pilot deployment and testing over the course of 1 year, physicians at our institution have completed 60 RadPath cases, requiring an average of 128 seconds from a radiologist and an average of 93 seconds from a pathologist per case. Several technical and workflow challenges were encountered during development, including interfacing with diverse clinical information systems, automatically structuring report contents, and determining the appropriate physicians to create RadPath summaries. Reaction to RadPath has been positive, with users valuing the system's ability to consolidate diagnostic information.

Conclusions: With the increasing complexity of medicine and the movement toward team-based disease management, there is a need for improved clinical communication and information exchange. RadPath provides a platform for generating coherent and correlated diagnostic summaries in cancer diagnosis with minimal additional effort from physicians.

Keywords: Cancer diagnosis; Clinical workflow; Integrated reporting.

Publication types

Technical Report

MeSH terms

Electronic Health Records
Humans
Information Storage and Retrieval
Internet*
Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
Neoplasms / pathology
Radiologists
Radiology Information Systems / organization & administration*
Workflow