CT Scans Help In Abdominal Pain Diagnosis In Emergency Departments, Study

According to a recent study, using Computed Tomography (CT) scans can significantly aid doctors in diagnosing the causes of abdominal pain in emergency departments more accurately and rapidly. The study took place at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and its findings are highlighted in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Researchers mentioned that abdominal CT scans offered details that resulted in changing the plan of treatment of nearly 50% of the participating patients in the study, and the scans also helped in reducing the number of hospital admissions. Scott Gazelle, MD, MPH, PhD, an MGH radiologist and director of the Institute for Technology Assessment, senior author of the study, explained "Our report addresses an important question with substantial policy relevance – what is the value of CT scanning in the emergency department setting? We specifically looked at how the use of CT for patients with abdominal pain affects physicians' thinking about their patients' diagnosis, their confidence in the diagnosis and the treatment plan; and we found that it significantly affected all three."

Dr. Gazelle mentioned that studies have been taking place on medical imaging in order to design new methods for reducing healthcare costs. He said "We've strongly believed that the use of CT in the emergency department can improve efficiency in the workup for many conditions, but we haven't had the evidence we would like to back up that assertion. We chose abdominal pain for our study because it's a common presenting symptom that doesn't have the clearly defined diagnostic guidelines available for other common symptoms that can lead to CT, like headache."

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CT Scans Help In Abdominal Pain Diagnosis In Emergency Departments, Study