Skip to main content

Table 2 Frequency of within-institution duplicate imaging 12 months before and 12 months after introduction of PACS

From: Impact of picture archiving communication systems on rates of duplicate imaging: a before-after study

 

Frequency of duplicate imaging

 
 

Before PACS

After PACS

P

Duplicate test within less than 7 days

   

   X-ray

   

Chest

1146/60598 (1.9)

1070/60366 (1.8)

0.12

Abdomen

339/8512(4.0)

273/8355 (3.3)

0.01

Total

1485/69110 (2.2)

1343/68721 (2.0)

0.01

   Computed tomography

   

Abdomen/Pelvis

275/14213 (1.9)

351/16060 (2.2)

0.13

Head

1099/16523 (6.7)

1180/18102 (6.5)

0.62

Chest

78/6627 (1.2)

120/8173 (1.5)

0.13

Total

1452/37363 (3.9)

1651/42335 (3.9)

0.92

Duplicate test within less than 30 days

   

   X-ray

   

Chest

3948/58212 (6.8)

3592/58204 (6.2)

<0.001

Abdomen

667/8248 (8.1)

595/8123 (7.3)

0.07

Total

4615/66460 (6.9)

4187/66327 (6.3)

<0.001

   Computed tomography

   

Abdomen/Pelvis

596/13969 (4.3)

786/15764 (5.0)

0.003

Head

1640/16364 (10.0)

1856/17868 (10.4)

0.26

Chest

200/6525 (3.1)

309/8019 (3.9)

0.01

Total

2436/36858 (6.6)

2951/41651 (7.1)

0.01

Duplicate test within less than 60 days

   

   X-ray

   

Chest

6032/56841 (10.6)

5519/56902 (9.7)

<0.001

Abdomen

857/8143 (10.5)

789/8012 (9.9)

0.16

Total

6889/64984 (10.6)

6308/64914 (9.7)

<0.001

   Computed tomography

   

Abdomen/Pelvis

968/13679 (7.1)

1174/15461 (7.6)

0.09

Head

1883/16257 (11.6)

2157/17736 (12.2)

0.10

Chest

341/6405 (5.3)

498/7857 (6.3)

0.01

Total

3192/36341 (8.8)

3829/41054 (9.3)

0.01

  1. Abbreviations: PACS, picture archiving communication systems.
  2. All numbers reported as no. of index tests associated with a duplicate test/total no. of index tests (%).
  3. All P values are for difference in frequency of duplicate imaging before versus after PACS.