La Société Française de Radiologie (SFR) and the Société Française de Médecine Nucléaire et d'Imagerie Moléculaire (SFMN) have published an updated guide to good imaging use ("Guide du bon usage des examens d'imagerie médicale") aimed at helping health professionals determine when imaging is appropriate and which exams are appropriate for a given indication.
The new French-language guide is available both as free online software and offline in document form at gbu.radiologie.fr. It replaces the original paper document published in 2005, and includes an online tutorial to help users familiarize themselves with its various functions.
The aims of the new guide, as in the original version, include minimizing patients' exposure to ionizing radiation, improving the quality of care, promoting an interdisciplinary approach to care, and controlling costs. Produced in cooperation with France's nuclear safety and health commissions, the program offers specific advice tailored to the patient's age and gender, as well as severity of disease, and incorporates more than 400 symptoms, according to the SFR.
Physicians can search for optimal exams by specialty, pathology, and key word. In response, the system provides explanations of all appropriate imaging exams and details on when they are beneficial.
The new online program was introduced last October at the Journées Françaises de Radiologie in Paris by Dr. Philippe Grenier of the SFR, who oversaw its development.
