Redundant Neurovascular Imaging: Who Is to Blame and What Is the Value?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Excessive use of neurovascular imaging studies such as Doppler ultrasound, CTA, MRA, and DSA adds cost to the evaluation of patients with new neurologic deficits. We sought to determine to what extent redundant neurovascular imaging is generated by radiologists’ recommendations and the agreement rates among modalities in this setting.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The radiology reports of 300 consecutive...