Radiology reports: a quantifiable and objective textual approach

•Radiology reports can be objectively studied based upon their lexical characteristics.•This analysis can help establish norms for reporting, resident training and authorship attribution.•This analysis can complement higher level subjective analysis in quality improvement efforts.

AimTo examine the feasibility of using automated lexical analysis in conjunction with machine learning to create a means of objectively characterising radiology reports for quality improvement.Materials and methodsTwelve lexical parameters were quantified from the collected reports of four radiologists. These included the number of different words used, number of sentences, reading grade, readability, usage of the passive voice, and lexical metrics of concreteness, ambivalence, complexity, passivity, embellishment, communication and cognition. Each radiologist was statistically compared to the mean of the group for each parameter to determine outlying report characteristics. The reproducibility of these parameters in a given radiologist's reporting style was tested by using only these 12 parameters as input to a neural network designed to establish the authorship of 60 unknown reports.ResultsSignificant differences in report characteristics were observed between radiologists, quantifying and characterising deviations of individuals from the group reporting style. The 12 metrics employed in a neural network correctly identified the author in each of 60 unknown reports tested, indicating a robust parametric signature.ConclusionAutomated and quantifiable methods can be used to analyse reporting style and provide impartial and objective feedback as well as to detect and characterise significant differences from the group. The parameters examined are sufficiently specific to identify the authors of reports and can potentially be useful in quality improvement and residency training.