• J Am Board Fam Med · May 2014

    Incidental computer tomography radiologic findings through research participation in the North Texas Healthy Heart Study.

    • Anna Espinoza, Kendra Malone, Elizabeth Balyakina, Kimberly G Fulda, and Roberto Cardarelli.
    • the Primary Care Research Center/Texas Prevention Institute, the Department of Family Medicine, and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington.
    • J Am Board Fam Med. 2014 May 1; 27 (3): 314320314-20.

    BackgroundAlthough variation exists in the classification and practice of managing clinical findings in research, emerging views suggest that researchers bear some responsibility in the management of incidental findings. This study contributes to the documentation of the population characteristics and prevalence of medical findings incidental to research participation, specifically findings related to coronary calcium scores and computed tomography (CT) scans that investigated cardiovascular disparities in an asymptomatic population.MethodsA total of 571 asymptomatic adult participants were recruited in the North Texas Healthy Heart Study. Participants completed a 16-slice CT scan of the heart and abdomen. Findings of radiology reports and 3 years of follow-up documentation were reviewed.ResultsA total of 246 clinically apparent findings were identified in 169 asymptomatic participants (32.9% of participants who completed a CT scan). Another 245 participants (48%) had findings of unknown significance, a total of 307 findings. At least 4 cases in this study led to a clinically significant intervention.ConclusionAlthough CT scans were completed for research purposes, study procedures resulted in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals who were previously asymptomatic. Potential clinical benefits in imaging research are moderated by considerations regarding possible harm and costs resulting from uncertain findings and the use of CT scans for nonclinical purposes. The continued development of protocols for the handling of incidental findings in research and the establishment of guidelines are needed to ensure that research procedures mirror the best interests of participants.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…