Gradient and spin echo(cardiographic) magnetic resonance imaging: prevalence of descriptive errors in published articles

Abstract

Recently, while correcting a set of galley proofs, we noticed a curious error: the term gradient-echo had been changed by the production editor to gradient-echocardiographic. Although initially puzzling, the etiology of this error soon became apparent. Cardiac ultrasound (i.e., echocardiography) is widely referred to as “echo,” unfortunately, even in formal writing. Long-suffering production editors are often in the habit of expanding “echo” to “echocardiography” or “echocardiographic” as appropriate, and had mistakenly applied this putative correction to our manuscript, although “gradient echo” and “spin echo” are technical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) terms. More recently, an identical error was noted in final print form in another manuscript, raising the question of the prevalence of this accidental “mixed-modality” error.