Structured Reporting Using CEUS LI-RADS for the Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)—Impact and Advantages on Report Integrity, Quality and Interdisciplinary Communication

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an increasingly accepted imaging modality for visualizing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is recommended as a secondary imaging option by most leading hepatology societies. In recent years, the use of structured reporting (SR) has been recommended by several societies to standardize report content and improve report quality of various diagnostic modalities when compared to conventional free-text reports (FTR). Our single-center study aimed to evaluate the use of SR using a CEUS LI-RADS software template in CEUS examinations of 50 HCC patients. SR significantly increased report integrity, satisfaction of the referring physicians, linguistic quality and overall report quality compared to FTR. Therefore, the use of SR in CEUS examinations of HCC patients may represent a valuable tool to facilitate clinical decision-making and improve interdisciplinary communication in the future. ABSTRACT: Background: Our retrospective single-center study aims to evaluate the impact of structured reporting (SR) using a CEUS LI-RADS template on report quality compared to conventional free-text reporting (FTR) in contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: We included 50 patients who underwent CEUS for HCC staging. FTR created after these examinations were compared to SR retrospectively generated by using template-based online software with clickable decision trees. The reports were evaluated regarding report completeness, information extraction, linguistic quality and overall report quality by two readers specialized in internal medicine and visceral surgery. Results: SR significantly increased report completeness with at least one key feature missing in 31% of FTR vs. 2% of SR (p < 0.001). Information extraction was considered easy in 98% of SR vs. 86% of FTR (p = 0.004). The trust of referring physicians in the report was significantly increased by SR with a mean of 5.68 for SR vs. 4.96 for FTR (p < 0.001). SR received significantly higher ratings regarding linguistic quality (5.79 for SR vs. 4.83 for FTR (p < 0.001)) and overall report quality (5.75 for SR vs. 5.01 for FTR (p < 0.001)). Conclusions: Using SR instead of conventional FTR increases the overall quality of reports in CEUS examinations of HCC patients and may represent a valuable tool to facilitate clinical decision-making and improve interdisciplinary communication in the future.