Ethical considerations
Imaging is increasingly used both in research and in clinical medicine, and hardware and sequences are continually being improved. These advances are likely to result in the detection of unexpected, asymptomatic abnormalities, such as brain tumors, aneurysms, or subclinical vascular pathologic changes. Consequently, a large amount of literature has been published on the prevalence of incidental findings, but also on the psychosocial consequences and impact of communicated incidental findings. Below, we present some further reading on this topic.
- Incidental Findings
- Meta-analysis on Incidental Findings on Brain MRI
- Morris Z, Whiteley WN et al. Incidental findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2009. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19687093)
- The Rotterdam Study
- Vernooij MW, Ikram MA et al. Incidental findings on brain MRI in the general population. N Engl J Med. 2007. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17978290)
- Bos D, Poels MM et al. Prevalence, Clinical Management, and Natural Course of Incidental Findings on Brain MR Images: The Population-based Rotterdam Scan Study. Radiology. 2016. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27337027)
- SHIP-Study
- Schmidt CO, Hegenscheid K et al. Psychosocial consequences and severity of disclosed incidental findings from whole-body MRI in a general population study. Eur Radiol. 2012. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23239059)
- Hegenscheid K, Seipel R et al. Potentially relevant incidental findings on research whole-body MRI in the general adult population: frequencies and management. Eur Radiol. 2013. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22911290)
- The NEO Study
- de Boer AW, Drewes YM et al. Incidental findings in research: A focus group study about the perspective of the research participant. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2017. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=28470774)
- Meta-analysis on Incidental Findings on Brain MRI
- Ethical Considerations
- Illes J, Kirschen MP, et al. Ethics. Incidental findings in brain imaging research. Science. 2006. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16469905)
- Wolf SM, Lawrenz FP, et al. Managing incidental findings in human subjects research: analysis and recommendations. J Law Med Ethics. 2008. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18547191)
- Illes J, Kirschen MP, et al. Practical approaches to incidental findings in brain imaging research. Neurology. 2008. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18227420)
- van der Lugt A. Incidental findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging. BMJ. 2009. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19706652)
- Bunnik EM, Vernooij MW. Incidental findings in population imaging revisited. Eur J Epidemiol. 2016. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26861155)