6788
clinical study

Radiologist Worklist Reprioritization Using Artificial Intelligence: Impact on Report Turnaround Times for CTPA Examinations Positive for Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Materials & Methods

This retrospective single-center study included patients who underwent CTPA before (between Oct. 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019; pre-AI period) and after (between Oct. 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020; post-AI period) implementation of an AI tool that reprioritized CTPA examinations to the top of radiologists’ reading worklist if detecting acute PE. EMR and dictation system timestamps were used to determine examinations’ wait time (time from examination completion to report initiation), read time (time from report initiation to report availability), and report turnaround time (sum of wait and read times). Times for reports positive for PE, using final radiology reports as reference, were compared between periods.

Results

The study included 2,501 examinations in 2,197 patients (mean age, 57.4±17.0 years years; 1,307 women, 890 men), including 1,166 and 1,335 examinations from pre-AI and post-AI period, respectively. For PE-positive examinations, post-AI period, compared to pre-AI period, showed significantly shorter mean report turnaround time [47.6 vs 59.9 minutes; mean difference, 12.2 minutes (95% CI, 0.6-26.0 minutes)] and mean wait time [21.4 vs 33.4 minutes; mean difference, 12.0 minutes (95% CI, 0.9-25.3 minutes)]. During regular operational hours, wait time was significantly shorter in post-AI than pre-AI period for routine-priority examinations [15.3 vs 43.7 minutes; mean difference, 28.4 minutes (95% CI, 2.2-64.7 minutes)].

Conclusions

AI-driven worklist reprioritization yielded reductions in report turnaround time and wait time for PE-positive CPTA examinations.

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