title: Does MRI Increase the Diagnostic Confidence of Physicians in an Outpatient Memory Clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Data showing the usefulness of MRI to improve the accuracy of the diagnostic process in cognitive disorders were derived from studies in tertiary referral centers. MRI is widely used as a diagnostic tool in everyday practice, but it is unknown what the actual added value of MRI is. We studied the usefulness of MRI in the diagnostic process by measuring the change of confidence of the physician.
  
  
  METHODS
  Physicians indicated confidence in their diagnosis before and after presentation of MR images using a visual analogue scale from 0-100%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Use of MRI increased the level of confidence by 3% in experienced clinicians and by 9% in inexperienced physicians. In 2/125 cases, MRI showed an unexpected finding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI is a useful diagnostic tool in everyday practice of diagnosing cognitive disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Medical Center Alkmaar, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boelaarts
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheltens
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Medical Center Alkmaar, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Jonghe
keywords: Cognitive disorder; Diagnostic confidence; MRI; Visual analogue scale