2008, Number 2
Acta Med 2008; 6 (2)
Impact of the abdominal multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in medical practice. Retrospective evaluation of requests and diagnosis for MDCT
Motta RGA, Arroyo HG, Quiroz CÓ, Ramírez AJL
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 9
Page: 55-63
PDF size: 189.76 Kb.
ABSTRACT
A retrospective study was conducted to assess the impact of CTs performed at the Radiology Department in patients mainly with non-traumatic acute abdominal pain. One hundred and thirty patients were enrolled in the study. Using an ordering entry system, physicians were required to report their diagnosis before ordering the abdominal CT. Each patient´s outcome was reviewed by the surgical staff, through other imaging studies, or by clinical follow-up. In 18% of the cases, there was only one clinical feature similar to abdominal pain or other symptoms like cough or lipothymy in 25% of the cases. 42% of the cases were of suspicious clinical diagnosis with only one clinical clue and dependent on an answer by the MDCT. There was clinical diagnostic agreement in 44.8% of the cases, 55.1% differed with the MDCT diagnosis. Patients complaining of acute non traumatic abdominal pain can be a diagnostic challenge since many diseases have overlapping features. CTs performed in the Emergency Department increases the physician’s level of certainty, decreases hospital admissions and leads to more timely surgical intervention. CT significantly increased Emergency Department clinician diagnostic confidence and altered initial treatment decisions.REFERENCES