Use of a standardized reporting template: can we improve report quality in pancreatic and peri-ampullary malignancy?

BACKGROUND: Accurate pancreatic and periampullary cancer staging with resectability assessment is vital to optimize surgical management and improve patient outcomes. The aim of this study is to assess the usefulness of a standardized reporting template.

METHODS: Retrospective review of all surgically managed patients with pancreatic or periampullary malignancy between January 2018 and June 2019. Pre-operative CT imaging report was anonymised and audited against a modified NCCN reporting template. The same imaging studies were re-reported by two experienced GI radiologists using the same template.

RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients (37 male) with median age of 68 years (36-83) underwent surgery for suspected pancreatic/peri-ampullary malignancy. The median time between pre-operative CT scan and surgery was 56.5 days (14-225). The use of reporting template resulted in significant increase in number of reported key features (p < 0.005), interobserver agreed features (p < 0.005) and overall k-value assessed interobserver agreement (p < 0.005). Template reports correlated closely with key intraoperative findings whilst primary free text reports did not (k-value 0.85-0.96 versus 0.20-0.46, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The use of a reporting template resulted in a more complete and accurate pancreatic/peri-ampullary tumour evaluation, improved inter-observer relatability and correlation with intraoperative findings.