[Reporting initiatives. An update on treatment in radiology]

Abstract

The written radiological report is the most important means of communication between the radiologist and the referring medical doctor. There is no universal definition of a radiological report concerning its structure and content. The majority of clinicians and radiologists prefer structured reporting rather than free text reports of findings. Structured reporting does not increase the quality of a radiological report but has many advantages in research, teaching and quality management. Using standard RadLex terms facilitates translation and ontological assignment of a report. The Reporting Initiative of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) offers free and freely available extensively validated best practices radiology report templates in the new management of radiology report templates (MRRT) format according to the guidelines of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE).