ACR Appropriateness Criteria Adds 19 New and Updated Topics

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) released an update to its ACR Appropriateness Criteria® (ACR AC), that includes 270 diagnostic imaging and interventional radiology topics with more than 1,300 clinical variants covering 4,000 clinical scenarios and 203 patient-friendly summaries. The update includes 13 new and six revised topics. All topics include a narrative, evidence table and literature search summary.

“The ACR Appropriateness Criteria are an important part of medical practice and serve as an invaluable resource to help radiologists and other clinicians provide the best patient care,” said Ihab Kamel, MD, PhD, chair of the ACR Committee on Appropriateness Criteria. “Hundreds of radiologists and volunteer specialists from more than 50 medical specialties form the expert panels that create and update these criteria to help ensure that patients get the right scan for their condition and avoid unnecessary care.”

New Topics:

• Abdominal Pain – Child
• Chest Pain – Child
• Chronic Pancreatitis
• Demyelinating Diseases
  
• Evaluation of Cardiac Masses
• Imaging After Liver Transplant
• Ingested or Aspirated Foreign Body – Child
• Joint Pain: Idiopathic Arthritis – Child
• Preprocedural Chest or Cardiac Imaging for Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Staging and Follow-up of Gastric Cancer
• Staging and Follow-up of Melanoma
• Staging and Follow-up of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
• Thoracic Venous Occlusions-Suspected Superior Vena Cava Syndrome

Revised Topics:

• Breast Implant Evaluation
• Chronic Foot Pain
• Major Blunt Trauma
• Postmenopausal Subacute or Chronic Pelvic Pain
• Radiologic Management of Pulmonary Nodules and Masses
• Suspected Physical Abuse - Child

ACR AC was first introduced in 1993. The guidelines are developed and reviewed annually by expert panels in diagnostic imaging and interventional radiology. Spanish translations of the ACR AC are now available from Colegio Interamericano de Radiología for 185 topics. More Spanish versions will be posted on a rolling basis as translations progress.