Patients with abdominal problems can benefit from having a follow-up CT scan
when an ultrasound examination has proved inconclusive, according to a new
report.
The research from a team of doctors working at Massachusetts General Hospital
in Boston found that a third of the secondary CT tests revealed positive
findings, which ultrasound had not detected.
"While only about 33 per cent of the CT examinations had positive findings
it doesn't mean that the other CT exams were not valuable, as sometimes even negative
exams add a lot to patient management," noted Dr Gupta, lead author of the
study.
Kidney complaints were the most commonly diagnosed issues, with CT scans having
a positivity rate of 87.5 per cent for renal cysts and 81.5 percent for kidney
stones.
Doctors explained that CT tests had the least diagnostic value as a follow up
exam for indeterminate pancreatic and intestinal masses, with a less than ten
per cent positivity rate.
© Adfero Ltd
Private MRI and CT scanning news: 7 May 2012
