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The increased use of computed tomography scanning for diagnosing superficial soft tissue infections: a disturbing trend of increased radiation with no benefit
- Source :
- The American Journal of Surgery. 204:988-995
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2012.
-
Abstract
- Soft tissue infections have historically been diagnosed on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms. A trend toward the increased use of computed tomographic (CT) imaging in their evaluation has been noted.A retrospective review was performed of soft tissue infection admissions in 2003 and 2004 and in 2009 and 2010. Intracavitary abscesses (eg, intra-abdominal, pelvic) that would not be evident on physical examination were excluded. Demographic and outcome variables, number of CT scans by body region, and total effective radiation dose were recorded. Radiation exposure was stratified into low, moderate, high, and very high categories.There was a significant increase in the number of patients receiving ≥1 CT scan for initial diagnosis, from 36.7% in the early cohort to 50% in the later cohort (P.001). The mean cumulative effective dose increased from 5.46 to 7.82 mSv (P = .007). Greater proportions of patients fell into the moderate (32.9% vs 24.5%) and high (6.8% vs 10.6%) radiation exposure categories.CT scans are increasingly used in the evaluation of soft tissue infections, with resultant increase in radiation exposure.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Physical examination
Unnecessary Procedures
Radiation Dosage
Effective dose (radiation)
Cohort Studies
Young Adult
Humans
Medicine
Hospital Costs
Child
Aged
Retrospective Studies
Aged, 80 and over
medicine.diagnostic_test
business.industry
Soft Tissue Infections
Infant
Soft tissue
Retrospective cohort study
General Medicine
Middle Aged
Texas
Child, Preschool
Cohort
Female
Surgery
Body region
Tomography
Radiology
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
business
Cohort study
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00029610
- Volume :
- 204
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The American Journal of Surgery
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4c15912870f4dfdab150a11daa39d843
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2012.05.029