In 1949, radiologist Leo Henry Garland, MD, former RSNA president, published his first of several articles on errors in radiology. Among his findings, Dr. Garland discovered that experienced radiologists would miss important findings in approximately 30% of chest radiographs positive for radiologic evidence of disease. The ensuing decades saw the development of contrast agents, the introduction of CT and MRI, and other major advances.

But despite these technological advances, along with vast gains in knowledge about human biology and disease processes, error rates in radiology have remained largely unchanged from Dr. Garland’s time, according to Michael A. Bruno, MD, vice chair for quality and safety, and chief of emergency radiology at Penn State University… Continue reading.