Acute Abdominal Pain and Abnormal CT Findings

Bao, Jean; López, Jorge Arturo Nava; Huerta, Sergio

doi:10.1001/jama.2013.276158

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

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“…Women with abdominal pain are significantly more likely to have alternative diagnostic systems that are better visualized by CT scan and US, such as ruptured ovarian cysts, ectopic pregnancy, or pelvic inflammatory disease. A study conducted in 2013 by Bao et al, for acute abdominal pain, showed that more than 50% of the CT findings were abnormal and not concerned with abdominal pain (Bao et al, 2013). In another previous study, it was found that CT scan is used to diagnose most cancers in women because radiation can also determine the risk-prone women who can develop cancer in the future due to abnormal cell growth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abnormal CT findings among patients with abdominal pain in the radiology department of a tertiary care center

Almushayti

Alsalhi²,

Alsagri³

et al. 2022

F1000Res

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Background: Abdominal pain is a common symptom in people of different ages due to various benign and life-threatening causes. Imaging studies, including computerized tomography (CT) scans, explore the clinical reasons behind this pain to prevent delayed diagnosis. Owing to abnormal findings, timely identification of the exact cause of abdominal pain is important in most diseases so treatment can be started earlier, but it has not yet been studied, making this research novel. This study was conducted to identify the prevalence of abnormal CT scan findings among referred patients with abdominal pain and to confirm or determine other diagnoses compared to other imaging modalities in the Emergency Department (ED). Methods: This observational retrospective study was conducted at the King Fahad Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Qassim. We included 2,144 patients who visited the ED and underwent abdominal CT scans between January 2021 and January 2022. Data on age, sex, CT findings, and results from other imaging modalities were collected from the Radiology Department. Results: We found that 2,144 patients referred from the ED to the Radiology Department complained of acute abdominal pain in 2021 for CT diagnosis. Approximately 28.2% of these patients had normal CT diagnoses. The average age at normal CT diagnosis was 38.6 years old. While 52% of CT diagnoses were abnormal, including obstructive ureteric stone (435, 20.3%), appendicitis (205, 9.6%), bowel obstruction (51, 2.4%), renal cancer (27, 1.3%), ovarian cancer (25, 1.2%), and obstructive bladder stone (25, 1.2%), with an average age of 40.4 years old, and 19% with accidental findings. Conclusions: Most of the cases with abdominal pain showed abnormal results in the CT scan. These results demonstrate the sole inefficiency of CT scan for the diagnosis of abdominal pain. So, clinical evaluations should be used together with abdominal ultrasonography to perform a timely and exact diagnosis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%