Breast Imaging Radiologists to Speak the Same Language

Janaury 26, 2010 - Radiologists specializing in breast imaging will now all speak the same language. The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) have agreed to include the Breast Imaging and Data Reporting System (BI-RADS) lexicon in RSNA’s radiology lexicon, RadLex.

Standardizing a uniform system of terminology is critical to communicating radiologic information in clinical practice, education and research. RadLex is a single unified source of radiology terms that is designed to assist radiologists in organizing and retrieving online imaging reports, images, medical records and literature.

The move also brings radiology closer to its goal of building structured reporting. “The inclusion of the BI-RADS lexicon in RadLex brings us closer to our goals of improved communication and accurate, clear and uniformly structured radiology reporting,” said Daniel L. Rubin, M.D., chair of the RadLex steering committee.

RadLex is sponsored by RSNA, which enlisted the collaboration of other radiology organizations, including ACR, to develop the comprehensive radiology lexicon. The lexicon was designed to satisfy the needs of software developers, system vendors and radiology users by adopting the best features of existing terminology systems, while producing new terms to fill critical gaps.

The ACR BI-RADS Atlas provides standardized breast imaging terminology, report organization, assessment structure and a classification system for mammography, ultrasound and breast MRI. The ACR’s development of BI-RADS was supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons and the College of American Pathologists.

The organizations will designate a representative to serve on the ACR BI-RADS Lexicon Committee, and an ACR representative with serve on the RadLex Breast Imaging subcommittee.

For more information: www.rsna.org and www.radlex.org