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Canadian Association of Radiologists Thoracic Imaging Referral Guideline

Date

2023-12-15

Authors

Hamel, Candyce
Avard, Barb
Belanger, Catherine
Bourgouin, Patrick
Lam, Stephen
Manos, Daria
Michaud, Alan
Rowe, Brian H.
Sanders, Kevin
Bilawich, Ana-Maria

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sage Journals

Abstract

The Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) Thoracic Expert Panel consists of radiologists, respirologists, emergency and family physicians, a patient advisor, and an epidemiologist/guideline methodologist. After developing a list of 24 clinical/diagnostic scenarios, a rapid scoping review was undertaken to identify systematically produced referral guidelines that provide recommendations for one or more of these clinical/diagnostic scenarios. Recommendations from 30 guidelines and contextualization criteria in the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) for guidelines framework were used to develop 48 recommendation statements across the 24 scenarios. This guideline presents the methods of development and the referral recommendations for screening/asymptomatic individuals, non-specific chest pain, hospital admission for non-thoracic conditions, long-term care admission, routine pre-operative imaging, post-interventional chest procedure, upper respiratory tract infection, acute exacerbation of asthma, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, suspect pneumonia, pneumonia follow-up, immunosuppressed patient with respiratory symptoms/febrile neutropenia, chronic cough, suspected pneumothorax (non-traumatic), clinically suspected pleural effusion, hemoptysis, chronic dyspnea of non-cardiovascular origin, suspected interstitial lung disease, incidental lung nodule, suspected mediastinal lesion, suspected mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and elevated diaphragm on chest radiograph.

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Citation

Published Version: Hamel C, Avard B, Belanger C, Bourgouin P, Lam S, Manos D, Michaud A, Rowe BH, Sanders K, Bilawich AM. Canadian Association of Radiologists Thoracic Imaging Referral Guideline. Can Assoc Radiol J. 2023 Dec 15:8465371231214699. doi: 10.1177/08465371231214699. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38099468.