Assessing radiology recommendations on neuroimaging reports for patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the frequency and nature of radiologists' recommendations in magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography reports for patients with papilledema attributable to idiopathic intracranial hypertension. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 146 consecutive patients with papilledema secondary to idiopathic intracranial hypertension were included. They were all ≥18 years of age with optic disc edema and preserved visual function or a visual field defect consistent with papilledema and underwent structural neuroimaging. METHODS: Electronic medical records were assessed for clinical and imaging characteristics. RESULTS: In total, 146 patients (131 female and 15 male) were analysed. The mean age was 32.9 ± 10.8 years. Recommendations were provided in 33 reports (22.6%). Lumbar puncture (LP) was the most common recommendation (72.7%), followed by additional imaging (15.2%), and referral to other providers (9%). Of the 67 radiologists who contributed to the 146 reports, 11 (16.4%) recommended LP in at least 1 of their reports. Incidental findings were characterised in 15 (10.3%) reports. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, radiologists provided recommendations in 22.6% of radiology reports, with LP being the most frequent recommendation. Future studies evaluating the appropriateness and impact of such recommendations are warranted.