Hi everyone,

I am working on a project searching a large database of radiology reports trying to identify all reports that have a specific finding. We are initially focused on the adrenal gland and want to select all reports that mention adrenal mass(es), nodule(s), or lesion(s). The part that makes this difficult is the fact that each radiologist has a different set of phrases they use when dictating the reports. Also they often say things like: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen”, “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses”, and "without a discrete nodule". The third confounding problem is a lot of the time there is a finding of mass/lesion/nodule in the sentence before the "adrenal" sentence. example: "....the liver contains a large mass. The adrenal glands are normal..."

My initial approach was to use proximity searches combining adrenal + mass/nodule/lesion. This gave decent results but I know there are better methods (and this seems like a great place to find some).

another way to ask the question: once you have a database of reports that contain the word "adrenal", how would separate them to the following three categories?

Positive/True findings: “A right adrenal nodule measures 1.5 x 1.1 cm” “A stable nodule in left adrenal gland which is unchanged for almost 2 years is likely benign.” “Bilateral adrenal nodules are noted. The nodule on the left measures 1.2 x 1.2 cm. The lesion on the right measures 1.4 x 1.6 cm.”

Negative findings: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen” “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses.” “There is persistent mild thickening of the left adrenal gland without a discrete nodule.” “There is mild thickening of the adrenal glands bilaterally without focal mass”

False positive findings: (lesion/mass/nodule in sentence before or after adrenal sentence) “likely occluded by the adjacent tumor mass. The left adrenal gland is slightly thickened but otherwise normal.” “The liver is otherwise unremarkable with no evidence of laceration or focal mass. The gallbladder pancreas adrenal glands and spleen are unremarkable.” “The gallbladder spleen pancreas and adrenal glands are unremarkable. There are multiple hypodense lesions which are too small to characterize in the bilateral kidneys”

Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone,

I am working on a project searching a large database of radiology reports trying to identify all reports that have a specific finding. We are initially focused on the adrenal gland and want to select all reports that mention adrenal mass(es), nodule(s), or lesion(s). The part that makes this difficult is the fact that each radiologist has a different set of phrases they use when dictating the reports. Also they often say things like: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen”, “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses”, and "without a discrete nodule". The third confounding problem is a lot of the time there is a finding of mass/lesion/nodule in the sentence before the "adrenal" sentence. example: "....the liver contains a large mass. The adrenal glands are normal..."

My initial approach was to use proximity searches combining adrenal + mass/nodule/lesion. This gave decent results but I know there are better methods (and this seems like a great place to find some).

another way to ask the question: once you have a database of reports that contain the word "adrenal", how would separate them to the following three categories?

Positive/True findings: “A right adrenal nodule measures 1.5 x 1.1 cm” “A stable nodule in left adrenal gland which is unchanged for almost 2 years is likely benign.” “Bilateral adrenal nodules are noted. The nodule on the left measures 1.2 x 1.2 cm. The lesion on the right measures 1.4 x 1.6 cm.”

Negative findings: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen” “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses.” “There is persistent mild thickening of the left adrenal gland without a discrete nodule.” “There is mild thickening of the adrenal glands bilaterally without focal mass”

False positive findings: (lesion/mass/nodule in sentence before or after adrenal sentence) “likely occluded by the adjacent tumor mass. The left adrenal gland is slightly thickened but otherwise normal.” “The liver is otherwise unremarkable with no evidence of laceration or focal mass. The gallbladder pancreas adrenal glands and spleen are unremarkable.” “The gallbladder spleen pancreas and adrenal glands are unremarkable. There are multiple hypodense lesions which are too small to characterize in the bilateral kidneys”

Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone,

I am working on a project searching a large database of radiology reports trying to identify all reports that have a specific finding. We are initially focused on the adrenal gland and want to select all reports that mention adrenal mass(es), nodule(s), or lesion(s). The part that makes this difficult is the fact that each radiologist has a different set of phrases they use when dictating the reports. Also they often say things like: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen”, “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses”, and "without a discrete nodule". The third confounding problem is a lot of the time there is a finding of mass/lesion/nodule in the sentence before the "adrenal" sentence. example: "....the liver contains a large mass. The adrenal glands are normal..."

My initial approach was to use proximity searches combining adrenal + mass/nodule/lesion. This gave decent results but I know there are better methods (and this seems like a great place to find some).

another way to ask the question: once you have a database of reports that contain the word "adrenal", how would separate them to the following three categories?

Positive/True findings: “A right adrenal nodule measures 1.5 x 1.1 cm” “A stable nodule in left adrenal gland which is unchanged for almost 2 years is likely benign.” “Bilateral adrenal nodules are noted. The nodule on the left measures 1.2 x 1.2 cm. The lesion on the right measures 1.4 x 1.6 cm.”

Negative findings: “No distinct adrenal nodules are seen” “There are no suspicious adrenal gland masses.” “There is persistent mild thickening of the left adrenal gland without a discrete nodule.” “There is mild thickening of the adrenal glands bilaterally without focal mass”

False positive findings: (lesion/mass/nodule in sentence before or after adrenal sentence) “likely occluded by the adjacent tumor mass. The left adrenal gland is slightly thickened but otherwise normal.” “The liver is otherwise unremarkable with no evidence of laceration or focal mass. The gallbladder pancreas adrenal glands and spleen are unremarkable.” “The gallbladder spleen pancreas and adrenal glands are unremarkable. There are multiple hypodense lesions which are too small to characterize in the bilateral kidneys”

Thanks for your help!