Director

Directed by Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D., the Radiology Outcomes Research Laboratory (RORL) focuses primarily on ways to increase the benefits and minimize the harms of widely used screening and diagnostic imaging tests that use ionizing radiation.

Mission

The principal objective of RORL research is to provide rigorous evidence of the value of testing, so that both physicians and patients can make more informed decisions about how and when to undergo imaging. This research will also aid health policy makers in making informed recommendations to the public about when and how to use such tests. Specifically, the goal is to demonstrate the impact of tests on health, identify the value of certain tests, decrease the use of tests where the evidence has shown the costs or harms outweigh the benefits, and do research to improve the performance of tests with proven clinical value but whose accuracy or precision can be raised.

Current Projects

Study of Tomography of Nephrolithiasis Evaluation (STONE) Clinical Trial

We are currently conducting a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) in the use of diagnostic imaging for patients that present at the Emergency Department with flank pain. This is a 15-site AHRQ-sponsored study: Clinicaltrials.gov registration number: NCT01451931.

Pediatric CT Dose Optimization and Standardization Endeavor

We have recently been funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct a study of radiation dose in pediatric CT. This will be an RCT to examine the effects on dose after taking the Image Gently pledge, or reviewing doses through a standard report that shows the frequency of doses and effective dose for a particular anatomic area.

Virtual Symposium on Radiation Safety and Computed Tomography

We are conducting an observation quality improvement study across the five University of California Medical Campuses: the UC DOSE project is a collaboration between UCSF, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and UC Davis to optimize and standardize protocols for use in CT. As part of this project we are offering a Virtual Symposium in Radiation Safety. Registration for the Virtual Symposium is now open on our website.