Informal use of decision theory to improve radiological patient management

Six radiologists reviewed 50 urograms to determine whether arteriography or needle aspiration should be recommended for evaluation of a space-occupying renal lesion. In addition to their usual decision methods, they were encouraged to think about the problem from a decision theory viewpoint. No computations were required. It was found that even informal, non-numerical application of decision theory resulted in improved outcomes; further improvement was noted with explicit use of numerical methods.