Free tool · No account
Radiology report decoder
A scan report you can't parse at 11pm makes for a long night. Paste the text of a scan or biopsy report and it stays exactly as written, with every phrase we know underlined where it sits. Tap one for what it means in plain words, with the source that says so.
A radiology report (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, mammogram, PET) or a biopsy report. Copy it from the patient portal or type the parts you want explained.
Nothing you paste leaves this browser tab. KeptWell never sees the report, and it's gone when you close the page.
Lungs: Mild bibasilar atelectasis. No pleural effusion.
Bibasilar atelectasis
Small areas at the bottom of both lungs where the air sacs have partly collapsed or aren't filling all the way. It's common after surgery, with long bed rest, or with shallow breathing, and deep breathing exercises can help those areas open back up.
What the sample chest CT says
The sample report above is a chest CT. Start at the bottom, with the Impression. That's where the radiologist sums up the findings that matter most, and this one says two things: a stable 5 mm pulmonary nodule, and no acute cardiopulmonary abnormality.
IMPRESSION: 1. Stable 5 mm pulmonary nodule. Follow-up recommended per guidelines. 2. No acute cardiopulmonary abnormality.
Pulmonary nodule
A small spot in the lung, under 3 cm across. They're common, found in up to half of adults who have a chest X-ray or CT. Most small ones aren't cancer and come from infection, scars, or lymph nodes, but some can be early lung cancer.
What often happens next: A follow-up CT may be planned to check whether it changes, guided by its size, look, and risk factors like smoking, and a PET/CT or biopsy is sometimes added.
The word to hold onto is "stable": the nodule looks the same as on the earlier scan. So the question worth bringing to the doctor is when the next scan is, and what would change the plan.
Higher up, in the Findings, "mild bibasilar atelectasis" sounds worse than it is, and "no pleural effusion or pneumothorax" means the radiologist looked for both and found neither. The whole sample gets 17 underlines. Don't read that as a score: plain report wording like "Comparison" and "unchanged" is underlined too.
For the report as a whole, the guide to reading a radiology report walks through each section, and the biopsy and pathology report guide does the same for tissue results.
Every meaning points to its source
The decoder knows 350 phrases from radiology and pathology reports, from chest and spine to breast imaging and biopsy results. Each meaning comes from one public medical source, and the card links to it. Most come from MedlinePlus and StatPearls, both on National Library of Medicine sites, the National Cancer Institute, and RadiologyInfo, which radiologists' professional societies publish for patients. Where those don't cover a term, the source is Radiopaedia, Cleveland Clinic or another named medical source.
When we have a longer guide on a phrase, like what "unremarkable" means, the card links there too.
Phrases explained in depth
Some phrases need more than a card: the words that usually sit next to them, what decides the next step, and what to ask.
- Pulmonary nodule
A 4 mm solid nodule in a low-risk adult usually needs no follow-up scan. See how size and density on your CT set the plan, and when the rules don't apply.
- Ground-glass opacity
Ground glass on a CT is either patchy haze that can clear within weeks, or one spot followed by size for years. How to tell which one is on your report.
- Aortic atherosclerosis
Plaque in the aorta is common with age and often found by chance on CT. What usually follows, and how it differs from the coronary calcium line.
- Schmorl's node
A Schmorl's node is disc pressed up or down into the bone, not out toward the nerves. Here's why "acute" and "marrow edema" are the words to find.
- Bone marrow edema
No fracture line means no complete break. Here's what the other words beside the edema on your MRI say about the cause and the healing time.
Questions people ask
- When should I worry about MRI or CT results?
- When a phrase's meaning mentions cancer, a follow-up scan or a biopsy, that's the one to ask the ordering doctor about first. Many findings on a scan are incidental, which means found by chance, and cause no harm.
- Who reads MRI results?
- A radiologist, a doctor who reads and interprets the images and writes the report for the provider who ordered the scan. If something in it is unclear, ask that provider, or ask if you can speak to the radiologist.
- Does it work on biopsy and pathology reports?
- Yes. 55 of the 350 phrases come from biopsy and pathology reports, including margins, tumor grade, Gleason score, HER2 status, dysplasia and Pap test results.
- Can I upload a PDF or a photo of the report?
- Not on this page. Paste the text instead: in a PDF, select the text and copy it. KeptWell itself reads PDFs, scans and photos when they're uploaded to a family's circle.
- Is this a diagnosis?
- No. It explains what words usually mean. What a finding means for one person depends on why the scan was done, their history and their earlier scans, and that's the ordering doctor's call.
What we will never do with your records
This decoder runs without an account, and KeptWell itself makes the same promises to every family, regardless of plan or price.
- We won't sell your data.
- Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to insurers, not to pharma, not to anyone, in any form, ever.
- We won't train AI models on your records.
- KeptWell does not opt in to model training. OpenAI and Anthropic do not use API inputs or outputs to train their models by default.
- We won't lock you in.
- You can export everything in your circle as a ZIP at any time. Cancellation is one click.
Get the whole report explained, and every one after it
KeptWell keeps every report in one place, explains each one in plain English when it arrives, and lets the whole family read the same thing. Free today.
Get started
We'll email you a secure sign-in link. It works whether you're new here or already have an account.