Objective: Several professional societies recommend the use of a synoptic radiology report (SRR) to report key radiological findings of patients with pancreatic cancer. This review aims to evaluate the global trends in SRR usage in pancreatic cancer.
Methods: EMBASE and Medline databases were searched to identify studies of interest. The search results were uploaded to Covidence. Initially, titles and abstracts were independently screened by two reviewers. After resolving conflicts, the reviewers performed a second independent screening, reading the full texts. Data from the included papers were extracted using spreadsheets and tables.
Results: Ten research articles describing the use of SRR for pancreatic cancer and five guidelines/consensus recommending its usage were included in the review [1-15]. Five articles were from the United States (US), two from Australia, one from the United Kingdom, one from Italy and one from Canada. Guidelines from the Society of Abdominal Radiology, American Pancreatic Association and National Comprehensive Cancer Network were the most frequently used to develop SRR. There was a wide variety of SRR usage at the baseline level (i.e., before any intervention to implement SRR), varying from 0 to 59%. Two interventions to increase the use of SRR in their corresponding institutions were proven successful. Benefits of using SRR compared to prose reports included: increased number of reported key tumour features, increased interobserver agreement, increased odds of pancreatic cancer diagnosis within 120 days of imaging, reduced odds of increased vascular involvement during multidisciplinary review and an increase in the accuracy and efficacy of the surgeon’s decision regarding resectability status. A US survey found that the most common reasons radiologists were not using SRR included: interference with efficient workflow or slowing down reporting, a lack of interest among radiologists and complexity of existing SRR templates. Suggested solutions provided by the respondents of the survey to improve the implementation of SRR included: simplifying SRR templates, creating new templates based on expert consensus and increasing educational efforts.
Discussion: Use of SRR in pancreatic cancer is associated with several benefits. However, the implementation of SRR will only succeed when radiologists have access to tools that satisfy their needs.