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Interior Health radiology review finds 6% discrepancy

Interior Health fared better than some other BC health authorities in a review of radiology results.

It was conducted following concerns about the work of a single locum radiologist who worked in our area in 2011 and 2014.

Medical health officer Dr. Alan Stewart says they checked 2,191 images and found a six per cent discrepancy rate.

But Stewart says that doesn’t necessarily mean the patients suffered adverse health effects.

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Island Health and Northern Health found discrepancy rates of 10 to 15 per cent.

The locum, who hasn’t been named, worked at hospitals in Trail in 2011 and Nelson in 2014.

The images were from CT, ultrasound, X-ray and diagnostic mammography exams taken at sites from across the West Kootenay Boundary, including Nelson, Castlegar, Trail, Grand Forks, Nakusp, New Denver, and Kaslo.

The review was conducted by a team of radiologists at Kelowna General Hospital.

Other health authorities who reviewed the same radiologists work found different results:

• Island Health reviewed 2,375 CT scans from 2,066 patients and found a discrepancy rate of 15 per cent. Of those, 25 patients required followup care.

• Northern Health reviewed approximately 8,400 medical images and found a 10 per cent discrepancy rate.

• Vancouver Coastal Health reviewed 861 medical images from 626 patients. No clinical discrepancies were found.

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