Orthopaedic surgeons frequently refer patients to imaging centers for MR and CT studies in order to make a final decision about surgery or treatment. Typically, the radiologist studies the images of each case and dictates a full text report describing the findings. The text report is then transcribed, printed and returned to the radiologist for a final review and signature. At. the Laurie Imaging Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the full text report contains three parts: a description of the MRI study, a narrative description of the findings and an impression. The latter contains the essence of the interpretation, and constitutes the most relevant part of the report that affects the decisiOn to be made by the surgeon. There are several drawbacks to conventional text reports: writing them is cumbersome, thev contain ambiguities due to their textual nature, and they do not facilitate the development of well-defined outcome and retrospective studies. These lead to inefficiencies in communicating the radiological findings.