Radiology for Surgeons: Improving the Diagnostic Accuracy in the High-Risk Surgical Patient

In the management of the high-risk surgical patient, the radiologist plays a crucial role, since accurate preoperative diagnosis and staging of disease allow the surgeon to choose the most effective approach, optimizing the surgical strategy and avoiding unnecessary intervention. Thanks to the currently available imaging techniques, anatomical structures can be visualized with elevated spatial and temporal resolution. Detailed information is provided about the relationships between the pathological lesion and the surrounding organs, thus maximizing the surgical outcome of the patient. Given the huge quantity of information enclosed in medical images, the dialogue between the surgeon and the radiologist is of paramount importance and represents a moment of professional growth for both: the surgeon learns to interpret the radiological images and the radiologist learns what information the surgeon needs. In this chapter, an overview of the advancement of medical imaging techniques and how they reshaped the management of surgical patients is provided, with examples of different pathologies of surgical relevance. Insights into best practices regarding communication and knowledge sharing between radiologists and surgeons are provided as well.