Purpose: To report initial perceptions and user experience of synoptic reporting of CT scans in assessing cancer of the pancreas among radiologists and hepatobiliary (HPB) surgeons involved in a multi-centre clinical trial.

Methods: A Clinician Satisfaction Survey was sent to participating clinicians involved in the MRFF-funded SCANPatient trial which includes 33 participating hospitals across Australia ⁽¹⁾. The survey was administered online from December 2023 - April 2024 prior to any participating site being randomised to synoptic reporting. The survey included questions about clinicians’ speciality, previous experience using synoptic/structured CT scan reports, perceptions/use and satisfaction with the level of anatomical details discussed/documented in their multidisciplinary team meetings, and opinions about the potential usefulness and effectiveness of synoptic/structured reporting in determining the resectability status of pancreatic tumours. Descriptive analyses were conducted to gauge clinicians’ perceptions and experiences.

Results: Twenty three clinicians anonymously completed the survey (from 67 who were sent the link, with a 34% response rate). The respondents were 10 radiologists (including 5 abdominal imaging specialists, 4 general radiologists and 1 other specialist) and 13 surgeons (12 HPB surgeons and 1 surgical oncologist). Thirteen respondents (57%) had 10+ years of specialty practice. The most commonly used/cited resectability classification systems were those of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (7/23), followed by the International Consensus 2017 ⁽²⁾ (6/23). On a scale of 1-5, mean satisfaction score and standard deviation for “anatomical detail discussed” in the MDM for CT scans were 3.57 ± 0.66 among all respondents (3.69 ± 0.75 among surgeons and 3.40 ± 0.52 among radiologists); 3.15 ± 0.69 for “anatomical detail documented”; and 3.23 ± 0.60 for “ease of determining resectability”. Nine radiologists had used synoptic reporting in any tumour type. Half of the radiologists had used a template report for non-metastatic PDAC. Only 3 radiologists routinely included a resectability status in their reporting of PDAC. Nineteen out of 23 clinicians believed synoptic/structured reporting of pancreas cancer CT scans will be useful.  

Conclusion: Initial findings indicate strong clinician support for synoptic CT reporting in assessing PDAC, highlighting its potential to improve communication of anatomical details and determination of tumour resectability.