iPad-based primary 2D reading of CT angiography examinations of patients with suspected acute gastrointestinal bleeding: preliminary experience

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the iPad (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA) for two-dimensional (2D) reading of CT angiography (CTA) studies performed for suspected acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: 24 CTA examinations of patients with suspected acute gastrointestinal bleeding confirmed (19/24, 79.2%) or ruled out (5/24, 20.8%) by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were retrospectively reviewed by three independent readers on a commercial picture archiving communication system (PACS) workstation and on an iPad with Retina Display (R) 64GB (Apple Inc.). The time needed to complete reading of every CTA examination was recorded, as well as the rate of detection of arterial bleeding and identification of suspected bleeding arteries on both devices. Results: Overall, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, positive-and negative-predictive values for bleeding detection were not significantly different while using the iPad and workstation (0.774 vs 0.847, 0.947 vs 0.895, 0.6 vs 0.8, 0.9 vs 0.944 and 0.750 vs 0.667, respectively; p > 0.05). In DSA-positive cases, the iPad and workstation allowed correct identification of the bleeding source in 17/19 cases (89.5%) and 15/19 cases (78.9%), respectively (p > 0.05). Finally, the time needed to complete reading of every CTA study was significantly shorter using the iPad (1696 74 vs 222670 s, respectively; p < 0.01). Conclusion: Compared with a conventional PACS workstation, iPad-based preliminary 2D reading of CTA studies has comparable diagnostic accuracy for detection of acute gastrointestinal bleeding and can be significantly faster. Advances in knowledge: The iPad could be used by oncall interventional radiologists for immediate decision on percutaneous embolization in patients with suspected acute gastrointestinal bleeding.