Scans and X-rays
What Does Clinical Correlation Mean on a Report?
Clinical correlation · say it: KLIN-ih-kul kor-uh-LAY-shunAlso written: correlate clinically, clinical correlation recommended, correlate with symptoms, clinical correlation is advised
Short answer
Clinical correlation means the radiologist is asking your doctor to compare the scan with your symptoms, examination and other tests.
What it means
Radiologists and pathologists usually do not examine you or know your full story. They see the images or the sample, and often only a short note about why the test was ordered. When they write "clinical correlation recommended", they are asking the doctor who knows you to put the finding together with everything else.
The phrase is often used when a finding could mean different things depending on symptoms, history or other results. A shadow on a chest X-ray, for example, can mean one thing in someone with a cough and fever and something else in someone with no symptoms at all. The writer is handing the final judgement to the person who can weigh all of that.
It is a very common phrase and part of normal teamwork between the radiologist and your doctor. It is different from a recommendation for 'follow-up imaging', which asks for another scan, and from the 'Impression', which is the radiologist's own summary of the main findings.
Where you may see it
- The 'Impression' or 'Conclusion' section of X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound reports
- Pathology and cytology reports on biopsies or samples
- Laboratory comments on results that fall just outside the lab's range
- ECG and heart scan reports
📄 How it looks on a report
Mild thickening of the bowel wall. Clinical correlation recommended.
🙅 What it does not mean
- It does not mean something serious was found. It is a routine phrase that appears on a great many ordinary reports.
- It does not mean the radiologist is unsure of their job. Some findings simply cannot be judged from images alone.
- It does not mean you automatically need more tests. Your doctor decides whether anything else is needed after looking at the whole picture.
🎯 Check yourself
Which of these is the right meaning of “Clinical correlation”?
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
🧾 Reports where you will see “Clinical correlation”
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🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Clinical correlation” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
- RadiologyInfo.org ↗
Radiological Society of North America and American College of Radiology
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General information about a medical word, not advice about your own results. Ask the clinician who ordered the test what it means for you.