Mistakes in Imaging Interpretation of Traumatic and Non-traumatic Brain Emergencies

Abstract

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an error as an act that through ignorance, deficiency, or accident departs from or fails to achieve what should be done. Errors in medicine can arise from different causes including technical failure, perceptual problem, cognitive biases, system errors, etc., and mitigation of these errors requires a thorough understanding of the root causes in each scenario since it may be multifactorial. Errors in radiology are unique within the practice of medicine, since the missed imaging finding or misinterpretation of an imaging examination stays for posterity and can be accessed easily much later in time, unlike errors in clinical examinations that often are not accessible for investigation at a later time. They are also unique due to the inherent differences in the acquisition and interpretation of imaging examinations and are more prone toward perceptual and cognitive biases.