Record type
Building a medical chronology from imaging reports
Imaging reports are dense but structured, and the part that matters most for a chronology is almost always the impression or findings section at the end, where the radiologist states their conclusion in a few sentences after describing the technical study in detail above it.
A chronology entry for an imaging report needs the study date, the body part and modality (MRI lumbar spine, CT head without contrast, and so on), and the impression itself, plus any comparison language, phrases like "stable since prior study" or "new finding compared to [date]" that only make sense once you're tracking the sequence of imaging over time rather than reading one report in isolation.
Comparison language is exactly why imaging reports benefit from being placed on a single timeline rather than read as standalone PDFs: a finding that looks unremarkable on its own can be significant when it's the third scan in six months showing progressive change.
Which events matter most
Extracted as imaging events, one per study, with the impression captured as the event summary and any comparison language noted.
What gets scrutinized
Reviewers focus on "no acute findings" versus a clearly positive impression, and on comparison language that either supports or undercuts a claim of ongoing injury.
FAQ
Imaging reports chronology questions
Does the chronology extract the full radiology report or just the impression?
The event summary is built primarily from the impression, since that's the radiologist's conclusion, the source quote field can also capture a short excerpt from the findings section when relevant.
Can it tell if two imaging reports are comparing the same body part over time?
Each study is extracted as an individual dated event; placing them on the same timeline by date makes the comparison visible, but reading the comparison language itself is a review step.
What if the imaging report is a scanned copy with poor print quality?
It's still processed, but scores a lower confidence rating, which flags it for manual review rather than being silently trusted.
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