Retrospectively assessing evaluation and management of artificial-intelligence detected nodules on uninterpreted chest radiographs in the era of radiologists shortage

Purpose: High volumes of chest radiographs (CXR) remain uninterpreted due to severe shortage of radiologists. These CXRs may be informally reported by non-radiologist physicians, or not reviewed at all. Artificial intelligence (AI) software can aid lung nodule detection. Our aim was to assess evaluation and management by non-radiologists of uninterpreted CXRs with AI detected nodules, compared to retrospective radiology reports. Materials and methods: AI detected nodules on uninterpreted CXRs of adults, performed 30/6/2022–31/1/2023, were evaluated. Excluded were patients with known active malignancy and duplicate CXRs of the same patient. The electronic medical records (EMR) were reviewed, and the clinicians' notes on the CXR and AI detected nodule were documented. Dedicated thoracic radiologists retrospectively interpreted all CXRs, and similarly to the clinicians, they had access to the AI findings, prior imaging and EMR. The radiologists' interpretation served as the ground truth, and determined if the AI-detected nodule was a true lung nodule and if further workup was required. Results: A total of 683 patients met the inclusion criteria. The clinicians commented on 386 (56.5%) CXRs, identified true nodules on 113 CXRs (16.5%), incorrectly mentioned 31 (4.5%) false nodules as real nodules, and did not mention the AI detected nodule on 242 (35%) CXRs, of which 68 (10%) patients were retrospectively referred for further workup by the radiologist. For 297 patients (43.5%) there were no comments regarding the CXR in the EMR. Of these, 77 nodules (11.3%) were retrospectively referred for further workup by the radiologist. Conclusion: AI software for lung nodule detection may be insufficient without a formal radiology report, and may lead to over diagnosis or misdiagnosis of nodules.