Improving data adequacy of ultrasonography reports for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) through a national structured template

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent disorder that increases due to lifestyle, the rising rate of obesity, and population ages worldwide. Diagnostic ways, including sonography, do not have an explicit reporting structure.

Purpose: To create a structure template for NAFLD reporting, investigate its completeness, and assess the specialist opinions of using it in clinical practice.

Material and Methods: A structured reporting template (SRT) was designed and implemented in four stages. At first, important features were extracted from a comprehensive literature review and were evaluated by 10 radiologists and gastroenterologists using the Likert scale. Finally, the usefulness of the SRT in comparison with the conventional reporting template (CRT) was judged by 10 gastroenterologists completing the questionnaire.

Results: Demographic information and sonography of the liver, gallbladder, and spleen organs were the most critical features. The completeness scores of SRT reports were higher than CRT scores for almost all the factors studied. The difference in the scores was significant for most of the parameters. Moreover, the total completeness score increased from 42% in CRT to 92% in SRT. A comparison of the report adequacy of two reports was seen in all items. The SRT obtained more rates from specialists.

Conclusion: Introduction of the SRT for NAFLD significantly enhanced the completeness of reporting to reduce variability in the interpretation of the related reports by clinicians. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to generalize the results in real scales for patients with NAFLD.