Radiology departments are under more pressure than they have ever been. Imaging volumes continue to grow year over year while the radiologist workforce struggles to keep pace, a gap that will widen further through 2030 and is identified as a core driver of diagnostic risk in emergency settings.⁶
Missed fractures on X-rays sit at the intersection of these pressures, a clinical problem that is well-documented, measurably costly, but increasingly addressable.¹ ²
This article examines why missed fractures happen, when they are most likely to occur, and how AI detection tools are beginning to close the gap without displacing the radiologists who remain crucial to the diagnostic process.