Quality and Consistency in Reporting CT Colonography

Consistent and quality reporting of computer tomography colonography (CTC) results enables better evaluation of performance in both research and clinical settings. A thorough description of research methodologies and results allows the synthesis of data to create meta-analyses. Quality clinical reports not only provide useful information for the clinicians, but also enable retrospective analysis for internal audit and quality control purposes. In the near future, programs performing CTC may be subject to performance-based evaluations for accreditation purposes; standardized clinical reporting based on data-supported and expert guidelines will likely facilitate this process. Clinicians and authors should report information regarding the following categories: patient cohort and relevant history, bowel preparation and performance of the examination, examination interpretation, lesion characteristics (size, location, morphology, histology), and diagnostic performance. This chapter will discuss guidelines and factors regarding all these categories that hopefully will lead to better and more uniform CTC reporting.