A rapid educational intervention to enhance brain MRI interpretation skills of radiology professionals for dementia diagnosis in Uganda: a pre- and post-intervention study

Accurate interpretation of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data is vital for diagnosing dementia, as it can guide physicians toward proper diagnosis and management. In low-income settings such as Uganda, the challenges are greater due to limited diagnostic resources and gaps in radiologists’ skills. Brain MRI is rarely used in dementia diagnosis, and even when it is employed, subtle but critical findings, such as mild regional atrophy, are often overlooked. This highlights the pressing need to enhance the MRI interpretation skills of imaging practitioners, ensuring that essential diagnostic clues are not missed in patients with suspected dementia. To determine the effect of a training intervention on the brain MRI interpretation skills of radiologists and radiology residents among patients with a clinical diagnosis of dementia. We conducted a pre- and post-test study among practising radiologists and radiology residents. Participants completed a baseline written test on dementia-related MRI concepts and an image-interpretation test, attended a one-day, in-person training workshop led by expert radiologists and neurologists, and repeated the same assessments four weeks later. Complete paired data were available for 29 of 31 attendees. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare pre- and post-training scores within groups, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare change scores between cadres and MRI experience levels. The median theoretical knowledge score increased from 73.3% (IQR 66.7–86.7) at baseline to 86.7% (80.0-93.3) after training (p < 0.001). Median image-interpretation scores improved from 50.9% (40.9–68.2) to 83.6% (73.6–89.1) across all participants (p < 0.001). Both radiologists and residents demonstrated significant gains, with residents showing slightly larger median improvements. Although both MRI experience groups (< 3 and ≥ 3 years) showed significant pre-post gains, participants with < 3 years of MRI exposure achieved a greater median increase in image-interpretation scores (+ 14.75 vs. + 12.0; p = 0.037). A focused, one-day training workshop substantially improved radiologists’ and residents’ knowledge and brain MRI interpretation skills for dementia in a low-resource setting, with particularly large gains among those with less MRI experience. These findings support integrating short, structured brain MRI dementia modules into residency and CPD programmes, although larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to confirm the durability and clinical impact of these improvements.