The meaning of a nonspecific abdominal gas pattern.
OBJECTIVE
The radiology report is the primary means of communication between the radiologist and the referring physician. A lack of precision in this report may adversely affect patient care. We examined how radiologists would define "nonspecific abdominal gas pattern" and how referring physicians would perceive the meaning.


METHODS
A questionnaire was distributed to radiologists and referring physicians in Flint, Michigan. They were asked to categorize their definition or interpretation, respectively, of "nonspecific abdominal gas pattern" into "normal"; "either normal or abnormal"; or "abnormal, representing either mechanical obstruction or adynamic ileus."


RESULTS
Thirty-three radiologists responded, 23 (69.7%) of whom used the term. One hundred fifty-seven referring physicians responded, 127 of whom assigned a specific definition to the term. Using a 2 x 3 chi-square test (df = 2), we found a statistically significant difference (p < .03) between the distribution of the meaning of the term between radiologists and their referring physicians.


CONCLUSIONS
The term "nonspecific abdominal gas pattern" should be abandoned because it may signify a normal condition or a pathologic state. We found the definition to be dichotomous and asynchronous between radiologists and their referring physicians.
Patel
N H
NH
Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA.
Lauber
P R
PR
D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005414:Flatulence / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005740:Gases; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015588:Observer Variation; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012372:ROC Curve; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D009626:Terminology as Topic
D005740:Gases