Rl. Law et al., A retrospective 5-year study on the accuracy of the barium enema examination performed by radiographers, CLIN RADIOL, 54(2), 1999, pp. 80-83
Barium enema examinations have been undertaken by radiographers at the Fren
chay Hospital for more than 10 years. We have performed a retrospective stu
dy to assess the accuracy of this radiographer service by reviewing those p
atients: who have been examined by both Barium enema and colonoscopy/flexib
le sigmoidoscopy to determine agreement, and reasons for disagreement. This
paper does not attempt to compare the two techniques.
In the 5 years between 1992 and 1996, 595 patients had both barium enema an
d colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy. In 488 (82%) of these patients the
barium enema examination was performed by a radiographer, Comparisons with
endoscopy indicate that 96% of polyps >1 cm, and 97% of carcinomas were de
tected radiologically, We conclude that radiographer performed barium enema
s with double reporting produces a very high standard of examination with d
etection rates for significant lesions comparable with published data.