Diagnostic Errors in Cerebrovascular Pathology: Retrospective Analysis of a Neuroradiology Database at a Large Tertiary Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Diagnostic errors affect 2%-8% of neuroradiology studies, resulting in significant potential morbidity and mortality. This retrospective analysis of a large database at a single tertiary academic institution focuses on diagnostic misses in cerebrovascular pathology and suggests error-reduction strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT and MR imaging reports from a consecutive database spanning 2015-2020 were searched for errors of attending physicians in cerebrovascular pathology. Data were collected on missed findings, study types, and interpretation settings. Errors were categorized as ischemic, arterial, venous, hemorrhagic, and other. RESULTS: A total of 245,762 CT and MR imaging neuroradiology examinations were interpreted during the study period. Vascular diagnostic errors were present in 165 reports, with a mean of 49.6 (SD, 23.3) studies on the shifts when an error was made, compared with 34.9 (SD, 19.2) on shifts without detected errors (P