Faculty Bibliography

Purpose To determine recent trends related to temporal as well as national and statewide geographic variation in the U.S. radiologist and radiology resident workforce. Materials and Methods This retrospective HIPAA-compliant study was exempted from the internal review board. Federal Area Health Resources Files and Medicare 5% research identifiable files were used to compute parameters related to the radiologist workforce. Geographic variation and annual temporal trends were analyzed. Pearson and Spearman correlations were assessed. Results Nationally, the number of radiology trainees increased 84.2% from a nadir in 1997 (3080 trainees) to 2011 (5674 trainees) and showed high state-to-state variation (range, 0-678 trainees in 2011). However, total radiologists nationally increased 39.2% from 1995 (27 906 radiologists) to 2011 (38 875 radiologists), and radiologists per 100 000 population nationally increased by 7.5% from 1995 (10.62%) to 2011 (11.42%), while showing high state-to-state variation (highest-to-lowest state ratio of 4.3). Radiologists' share of the overall physician workforce declined nationally by 8.8% from 1995 (4.0%) to 2011 (3.7%), with moderate state-to-state variation (highest-to-lowest state ratio of 1.7). Radiology trainee numbers exhibited weak-to-moderate positive state-by-state correlation with radiologists per 100 000 population (r = 0.292-0.532), but moderate-to-strong inverse correlation with the percentage of radiologists in rural practice (r = -0.464 to -0.635). Conclusion Although the number of radiology trainees dramatically increased, radiologists per 100 000 population increased only slightly, and radiologists' share of the overall physician workforce declined. State-to-state variations in radiologist and radiology resident workforces are high, which suggests a potential role for geographic redistribution rather than changes in the overall workforce size. (c) RSNA, 2015 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence supports the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-ultrasound fusion-targeted prostate biopsy (MRF-TB) to improve the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa) while limiting detection of indolent disease compared to systematic 12-core biopsy (SB). OBJECTIVE: To compare MRF-TB and SB results and investigate the relationship between biopsy outcomes and prebiopsy MRI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective analysis of a prospectively acquired cohort of men presenting for prostate biopsy over a 26-mo period. A total of 601 of 803 consecutively eligible men were included. INTERVENTIONS: All men were offered prebiopsy MRI and assigned a maximum MRI suspicion score (mSS). Men with an MRI abnormality underwent combined MRF-TB and SB. OUTCOMES: Detection rates for all PCa and high-grade PCa (Gleason score [GS] >/=7) were compared using the McNemar test. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: MRF-TB detected fewer GS 6 PCas (75 vs 121; p<0.001) and more GS >/=7 PCas (158 vs 117; p<0.001) than SB. Higher mSS was associated with higher detection of GS >/=7 PCa (p<0.001) but was not correlated with detection of GS 6 PCa. Prediction of GS >/=7 disease by mSS varied according to biopsy history. Compared to SB, MRF-TB identified more GS >/=7 PCas in men with no prior biopsy (88 vs 72; p=0.012), in men with a prior negative biopsy (28 vs 16; p=0.010), and in men with a prior cancer diagnosis (42 vs 29; p=0.043). MRF-TB detected fewer GS 6 PCas in men with no prior biopsy (32 vs 60; p<0.001) and men with prior cancer (30 vs 46; p=0.034). Limitations include the retrospective design and the potential for selection bias given a referral population. CONCLUSIONS: MRF-TB detects more high-grade PCas than SB while limiting detection of GS 6 PCa in men presenting for prostate biopsy. These findings suggest that prebiopsy multiparametric MRI and MRF-TB should be considered for all men undergoing prostate biopsy. In addition, mSS in conjunction with biopsy indications may ultimately help in identifying men at low risk of high-grade cancer for whom prostate biopsy may not be warranted. PATIENT SUMMARY: We examined how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-targeted prostate biopsy compares to traditional systematic biopsy in detecting prostate cancer among men with suspicion of prostate cancer. We found that MRI-targeted biopsy detected more high-grade cancers than systematic biopsy, and that MRI performed before biopsy can predict the risk of high-grade cancer.

PURPOSE: To characterize and compare the performance of radiologists in Medicare's new Physician Compare Initiative with that of other provider groups. METHODS: CMS Physician Compare data were obtained for all 900,334 health care providers (including 30,614 radiologists) enrolled in Medicare in early 2015. All publicly reported metrics were compared among eight provider categories (radiologists, pathologists, primary care, other medical subspecialists, surgeons, all other physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and all other nonphysicians). RESULTS: Overall radiologist satisfaction of all six Physician Compare Initiative metrics differed significantly from that of nonradiologists (all P