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Clinicians who order imaging studies often deal with “incidentalomas” — imaging test findings that are reported serendipitously in a patient who is undergoing the imaging test for an unrelated reason. In this umbrella review of 20 systematic reviews (240 primary studies, involving 627,000 patients), researchers estimated the prevalence of incidentalomas and the percentage of incidentalomas that are malignant by organ. Fifteen reviews quantified the prevalence of incidentalomas, and 18 quantified the outcomes of incidentalomas.
The prevalence of incidentalomas was highest for computed tomography (CT) of the chest (45%), CT colonography (38%), and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; 34%). Prevalence was intermediate for MRI of the brain a…