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Increasingly, radiologic imaging is obtained as part of the pathway in diagnosing ventral hernias. Often, radiologists receive incomplete or incorrect clinical information from clinicians. Objective: The aim of the study is to determine if clinical exam findings alter radiological interpretation of ventral hernias on CT.

This is a single-institution double-blind, randomized trial. All patients with a recent abdominal/pelvic CT scan seen in various surgical clinics were enrolled. A surgeon blinded to the CT scan findings performed a standardized physical examination and assessed for the presence of a ventral hernia. Seven independent radiologists blinded to the study design reviewed the scans. Each radiologist received one of three types of clinical exam data per CT: accurate (correct), inaccurate (purposely incorrect), or none. Allocation was random and stratified by the presence of clinical hernia. The …