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Psychosocial consequences and severity of disclosed incidental findings from whole-body MRI in a general population study

European Radiology volume 23, pages 1343–1351 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives

Little is known about the psychosocial impact and subjective interpretation of communicated incide ntal findings from whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (wb-MRI). This was addressed with this general population study.

Methods

Data was based on the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), Germany. SHIP comprised a 1.5-T wb-MRI examination. A postal survey was conducted among the first 471 participants, aged 23–84 years, who received a notification about incidental findings (response 86.0 %, n = 405). The severity of incidental findings was assessed from the participants’ and radiologists’ perspective.

Results

In total, 394 participants (97.3 %) wanted to learn about their health by undergoing wb-MRI. Strong distress while waiting for a potential notification of an incidental finding was reported by 40 participants (9.9 %), whereas 116 (28.6 %) reported moderate to severe psychological distress thereafter. Strong disagreement was noted between the subjective and radiological evaluation of the findings’ severity (kappa = 0.02). Almost all participants (n = 389, 96.0 %) were very satisfied with their examination.

Conclusions

Despite the high satisfaction of most participants, there were numerous adverse consequences concerning the communication of incidental findings and false expectations about the likely potential benefits of whole-body-MRI.

Key Points

• Disclosed incidental findings from MRI may lead to substantial psychosocial distress.

• Subjective and radiological evaluations of incidental findings’ severity differ strongly.

• Disclosing incidental findings is strongly endorsed by study volunteers.

• Study volunteers tend to have false expectations about potential benefits from MRI.

• Minimizing stress in study volunteers should be a key aim in MRI research.

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Fig. 1
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Abbreviations

SHIP:

Study of Health in Pomerania

wb-MRI:

whole-body MRI

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Acknowledgements

SHIP is part of the Community Medicine Research net of the University of Greifswald, Germany, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant no. 03ZIK012), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs as well as the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Whole-body MR imaging was supported by a joint grant from Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany and the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The University of Greifswald is a member of the ‘Center of Knowledge Interchange’ program of the Siemens AG. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR mammography research is part of the entire whole-body MRI study and was supported by Bayer Healthcare. The work was further supported by the DFG (grant no. SCHM 2744/1-1).

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Affiliations

  1. Study of Health in Pomerania /KEF, University Medicine of Greifswald, Institute for Community Medicine, Walther Rathenau Str. 48, 17475, Greifswald, Germany

    Carsten Oliver Schmidt

  2. Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Thomas Kohlmann & Henry Völzke

  3. Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medicine of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Katrin Hegenscheid

  4. Faculty of Theology, University Medicine of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Pia Erdmann, Martin Langanke & Heinrich Assel

  5. Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, HELIOS Klinikum Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany

    Ralf Puls

  6. Center of Oral Health, Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Gerostomatology and Dental Materials, University Medicine of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Reiner Biffar

  7. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Hans Jörgen Grabe

Authors
  1. Carsten Oliver Schmidt
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  2. Katrin Hegenscheid
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  3. Pia Erdmann
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  4. Thomas Kohlmann
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  5. Martin Langanke
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  6. Henry Völzke
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  7. Ralf Puls
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  8. Heinrich Assel
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  9. Reiner Biffar
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  10. Hans Jörgen Grabe
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Correspondence to Carsten Oliver Schmidt.

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Schmidt, C.O., Hegenscheid, K., Erdmann, P. et al. Psychosocial consequences and severity of disclosed incidental findings from whole-body MRI in a general population study. Eur Radiol 23, 1343–1351 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-012-2723-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-012-2723-8

Keywords

  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Incidental findings
  • Psychosocial aspects
  • Epidemiology
  • Informed consent