Joint ESR-EFSUMB recommendation on archiving and reporting ultrasound examinations

The ESR and EFSUMB have issued a joint statement about the necessity of a formal report for all ultrasonographic examinations as well as proper archiving of both reports and images within hospital information technology (IT) systems. Both societies agreed on the importance of availability of US images and reports in clinical practice and agreed on a formal recommendation to their members on this topic.

• Availability of reports and images of all US examinations is important in clinical practice as a record of patient status at the time of the studies and as a point of references for future studies, with either US or other imaging modalities. • Both ESR and EFSUMB consider it good clinical practice to provide accurate and retrievable recordings of all ultrasonographic examinations. • Both ESR and EFSUMB recommend to their members to organise workflow in ultrasonography so that proper archiving of both images and reports of all studies can be regularly obtained.