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CT scan structured report for the study of abdominal wall defects: a fast, easy and practical tool at the service of both surgeons and radiologist

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A Comment to this article was published on 18 January 2022

Abstract

Purpose

The advantages offered by structured reporting have already been highlighted in the literature. However, there is still no evidence on the validity of this reporting method for the study of abdominal wall defects. This study aims to show the experience of the Trentino Hernia Team (THT) multidisciplinary group in the development and use of a structured CT scan report for the study of abdominal wall defects.

Methods

A regional multidisciplinary team (THT group) used a Delphi method to identify and select the most important CT scan parameters needed to describe and stage abdominal wall defects for correct preoperative planning. Based on the selected parameters, a CT scan structured report was worked out and collectively accepted. The first 20 structured reports obtained were individually tested for compilation speed and homogeneity of the data reported by five distinct radiologists. The reports were then evaluated by five different surgeons to test the simplicity of interpretation.

Results

We produced a model of a structured report for the study of the abdominal wall defects and tested it in our hospital network on the first 20 reports. The average completion time was 18 min (range 12–25). There was no heterogeneity among the reported data. The reports were analysed by five distinct surgeons to evaluate completeness and simplicity of interpretation. Each surgeon used a Likert scale from 0 to 5 to evaluate each report, producing average scores of 4.8 and 4.1 for completeness and comprehensibility respectively, with a mean combined total score of 8.9 out of 10.

Conclusions

Our structured report represents a fundamental tool capable of providing the surgeon with all the measurements of the parameters necessary for correct preoperative planning. At the same time, it is of crucial help for the radiologists representing an easy and fast way to report all the needed parameters using the same standards.

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Funding

No funding was required in the writing of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, S. Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy

    A. Carrara, F. L. Nava, L. Pellecchia, P. Moscatelli & G. Tirone

  2. Department of Radiology, S. Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy

    E. Calabrese, M. Ferrari, F. Paganelli & M. Recla

  3. General Surgery Unit, Ospedale Valli del Noce, Cles, Tn, Italy

    L. Fabris & M. Zuolo

  4. General Surgery Unit, Ospedale Di Cavalese, Cavalese, Tn, Italy

    A. Dorna

  5. General Surgery Unit, S. Lorenzo Hospital, Borgo Valsugana, Tn, Italy

    M. Costa

Authors
  1. A. Carrara
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  2. F. L. Nava
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  3. M. Costa
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  4. L. Fabris
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  5. M. Zuolo
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  6. L. Pellecchia
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  7. P. Moscatelli
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  8. A. Dorna
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  9. E. Calabrese
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  10. M. Ferrari
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  11. F. Paganelli
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  12. M. Recla
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  13. G. Tirone
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Contributions

All authors equally contributed to this work in designing it, collecting data, writing the paper and review it.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Carrara.

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Conflict of interest

No conflict of interests to be declared.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by our ethical committee  (Ref. N.10/2020 - 14/12/2020).

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All patients regularly signed informed consent for Ct scan examination.

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Carrara, A., Nava, F.L., Costa, M. et al. CT scan structured report for the study of abdominal wall defects: a fast, easy and practical tool at the service of both surgeons and radiologist. Hernia 25, 1685–1692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10029-021-02503-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10029-021-02503-8

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