Do Patients’ Photos Help Doctors? Excerpt: In the study, 15 radiologists at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem reviewed computed tomography images along with a photograph of the patient. Months later they reviewed the same CT scan but without a photo. A control group of radiologists also twice-reviewed CT scans with no photographs at all. About 300 patients participated in the study. … the absence of a photograph was associated with an 80% drop in so-called incidental findings, such as when a search for kidney stones turns up a tumor. Incidental findings are often life-saving because they discover pre-symptomatic problems, and the study suggests that radiologists look more carefully for them when a patient photograph is attached.
The study is being presented at this week’s Radiological Society of North America but has not been submitted for publication.
