These findings encourage clinicians to implement low-dose CT modalities in emergency departments.
It is attractive to think that computed tomography radiation doses can be easily reduced across the board without affecting patient care.
Low-dose CT scans appear to diagnose appendicitis accurately while exposing patients to less radiation, as these were accurate in identifying appendicitis and differentiating cases that required surgery from those that could be treated with antibiotics alone.
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“The results of this study suggest that the radiation dose from diagnostic CT scan can be significantly reduced without affecting diagnostic accuracy. These findings are expected to encourage clinicians to implement low-dose CT modalities in departments. emergency room for acute appendicitis imaging to avoid unnecessary radiation in this large patient population, “said Dr. Paulina Salminen, University of Turku, Finland.
As reported in the British Journal of Surgery, Dr. Salminen and her colleagues examined prospective data from a cohort of patients older than 16 years who had suspected appendicitis. They compared the computed tomography diagnosis with the final clinical diagnosis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of low-dose computed tomography versus standard contrast-enhanced computed tomography.
Dr. Rinat Masamed, a diagnostic radiologist at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, United States, told Reuters Health: “The findings are not surprising. At our institution, we have steadily reduced the dose of all CT scans in recent years. years and we have shown that there is little or no difference in image quality and rendering accuracy in most cases. “
“These results are encouraging, but the study did not explore the differences in sensitivity and specificity of low-dose versus standard-dose computed tomography in individuals with a higher body mass index, who make up a large part of our population. “added the specialist.
Dr. Benjamin M. Yeh, Professor of Biomedical Imaging and Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, United States, noted: “It is attractive to think that computed tomography radiation doses can be easily reduced across the board without compromising However, in real life reducing the radiation dose by computed tomography is complicated. “
Dr Yeh, who was also not involved in the study, noted that “low diversity CT scanners generally require higher radiation doses to produce quality images similar to advanced scanners. Patients with a mass index still make up a wide variety of patient sizes.To achieve similar diagnostic CT images, a tall person with a low body mass index requires a higher radiation dose than a short person with a similar body mass index. artificial intelligence can help classify them through a myriad of factors to adjust radiation dose to a more granular level. “
Source consulted here.
