Adherence to guidelines for hormonal evaluation in patients with incidentally detected adrenal nodules: effects of radiology report wording and standardized reporting

Objective To compare the rates of hormonal evaluation in patients who had CT reports describing adrenal incidentalomas with and without a specific recommendation for hormonal evaluation. Materials and methods We performed a retrospective review of adult outpatients without a history of cancer who had a CT report describing an incidental adrenal nodule. Radiology reports were reviewed to determine whether a standardized macro was used which gave specific recommendations for hormonal evaluation and endocrinology consultation. If no macro was used it was determined whether the report had a recommendation for hormonal evaluation and endocrinology consultation. Results A standardized macro recommending hormonal evaluation and endocrinology referral was used in 45/129 (34.8%) reports that described an incidental adrenal nodule. A recommendation for hormonal evaluation was made in 5/84 (6.0%) reports without a macro. Hormonal evaluation was performed in 24/50 (48.0%) patients whose reports recommended it and in 11/79 (13.9%) patients whose reports did not ( p