Single-Center Experience Implementing the LOINC-RSNA Radiology Playbook for Adult Abdomen/Pelvis CT and MR Procedures Using a Semi-Automated Method

• Published in: Journal of digital imaging Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 124 - 132
• Main Authors: Sandhu, Ranjit S., Shin, James, Wang, Kenneth C., Shih, George
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.02.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: ABDOMEN; ADULTS; ALGORITHMS; Automation; COMPUTER CODES; Computer programs; COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY; Imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Open source software; PELVIS; RADIOLOGY; RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; Software development tools; Source code; Standardization; String matching; LOINC; Playbook; RSNA; Python
• ISSN: 0897-1889; 1618-727X; 1618-727X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10278-017-0016-0

The LOINC-RSNA Radiology Playbook represents the future direction of standardization for radiology procedure names. We developed a software solution (“RadMatch”) utilizing Python 2.7 and FuzzyWuzzy, an open-source fuzzy string matching algorithm created by SeatGeek, to implement the LOINC-RSNA Radiology Playbook for adult abdomen and pelvis CT and MR procedures performed at our institution. Execution of this semi-automated method resulted in the assignment of appropriate LOINC numbers to 86% of local CT procedures. For local MR procedures, appropriate LOINC numbers were assigned to 75% of these procedures whereas 12.5% of local MR procedures could only be partially mapped. For the standardized local procedures, only 63% of CT and 71% of MR procedures had corresponding RadLex Playbook identifier (RPID) codes in the LOINC-RSNA Radiology Playbook, which limited the utility of RPID codes. RadMatch is a semi-automated open-source software tool that can assist radiology departments seeking to standardize their radiology procedures via implementation of the LOINC-RSNA Radiology Playbook.