The Diagnostic Utility and Clinical Impact of After-Hours CT Scans of the Abdomen and Pelvis Investigating Abdominal Pain

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility and impact on clinical management of after-hours CT scans investigating abdominal pain in surgical patients. METHODS: After-hours CT A/P reports investigating the acute surgical abdomen were compared with clinical outcomes and histopathological findings to assess sensitivity and specificity of CT reporting. Comparisons between CT reports and clinical notes were made. CT scans were categorised as having direct effects on clinical management, ruling out a serious pathology, ruling out a nonserious pathology, or having no effect. Discrepancies between information in case-notes and information provided to radiologists were also analysed. RESULTS: 79 clinical notes were located. After-hours CT demonstrated 91% sensitivity and 82% reporting specificity using clinical outcomes as the standard. In the 26 patients with histopathological findings, CT reports demonstrated 91% sensitivity. In 79.7% of cases, CT scanning had an impact on management. In 35.4% of cases, an indication for scanning was not documented with variation in clinical information in 8.9% of cases. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates after-hours CT A/P reports result in significant impacts on clinical management of surgical patients with acute abdominal pain. Improvements in providing information when requesting scans are however needed to facilitate accurate reporting.