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Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is commonly used in trauma care, with increasing implementation during the emergency work-up of elderly patients with low-energy falls (LEF). The prevalence of incidental findings (IFs) resulting from CT imaging and requiring down-stream actions in this patient c...

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Autores principales: Niedermeier, Sandra, Wania, Rebecca, Lampart, Alina, Stahl, Robert, Trumm, Christoph, Kammerlander, Christian, Böcker, Wolfgang, Nickel, Christian H., Bingisser, Roland, Armbruster, Marco, Pedersen, Vera
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8871195/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204445
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12020354
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author Niedermeier, Sandra
Wania, Rebecca
Lampart, Alina
Stahl, Robert
Trumm, Christoph
Kammerlander, Christian
Böcker, Wolfgang
Nickel, Christian H.
Bingisser, Roland
Armbruster, Marco
Pedersen, Vera
author_facet Niedermeier, Sandra
Wania, Rebecca
Lampart, Alina
Stahl, Robert
Trumm, Christoph
Kammerlander, Christian
Böcker, Wolfgang
Nickel, Christian H.
Bingisser, Roland
Armbruster, Marco
Pedersen, Vera
author_sort Niedermeier, Sandra
collection PubMed
description Background: Computed tomography (CT) is commonly used in trauma care, with increasing implementation during the emergency work-up of elderly patients with low-energy falls (LEF). The prevalence of incidental findings (IFs) resulting from CT imaging and requiring down-stream actions in this patient cohort is unknown. We have investigated the prevalence and urgency of IFs from emergency CT examinations in these patients. Methods: A total of 2871 patients with LEF and emergency CT examinations were consecutively included in this retrospective cohort study. The primary endpoint was the prevalence of IFs; the secondary endpoint was their urgency. Results: The median age was 82 years (64.2% were women). IFs were identified in 73.9% of patients, with an average of 1.6 IFs per patient. Of all IFs, 16.4% were classified as urgent or relevant, predominantly in the abdomen, chest and neck. Increasing age was associated with the prevalence of an IF (odds ratio: 1.053, 95% confidence interval: 1.042–1.064). Significantly more IFs were found in female patients (75.2% vs. 71.5%). Conclusion: IFs resulting from CT examinations of the elderly are frequent, but in more than 8 out of 10, they are harmless or currently asymptomatic. For the benefit of an accurate diagnosis of traumatic lesions, concerns about IFs with respect to disease burden, further work-up and resource utilisation might be disregarded.
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spelling pubmed-88711952022-02-25 Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications Niedermeier, Sandra Wania, Rebecca Lampart, Alina Stahl, Robert Trumm, Christoph Kammerlander, Christian Böcker, Wolfgang Nickel, Christian H. Bingisser, Roland Armbruster, Marco Pedersen, Vera Diagnostics (Basel) Article Background: Computed tomography (CT) is commonly used in trauma care, with increasing implementation during the emergency work-up of elderly patients with low-energy falls (LEF). The prevalence of incidental findings (IFs) resulting from CT imaging and requiring down-stream actions in this patient cohort is unknown. We have investigated the prevalence and urgency of IFs from emergency CT examinations in these patients. Methods: A total of 2871 patients with LEF and emergency CT examinations were consecutively included in this retrospective cohort study. The primary endpoint was the prevalence of IFs; the secondary endpoint was their urgency. Results: The median age was 82 years (64.2% were women). IFs were identified in 73.9% of patients, with an average of 1.6 IFs per patient. Of all IFs, 16.4% were classified as urgent or relevant, predominantly in the abdomen, chest and neck. Increasing age was associated with the prevalence of an IF (odds ratio: 1.053, 95% confidence interval: 1.042–1.064). Significantly more IFs were found in female patients (75.2% vs. 71.5%). Conclusion: IFs resulting from CT examinations of the elderly are frequent, but in more than 8 out of 10, they are harmless or currently asymptomatic. For the benefit of an accurate diagnosis of traumatic lesions, concerns about IFs with respect to disease burden, further work-up and resource utilisation might be disregarded. MDPI 2022-01-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8871195/ /pubmed/35204445 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12020354 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Niedermeier, Sandra
Wania, Rebecca
Lampart, Alina
Stahl, Robert
Trumm, Christoph
Kammerlander, Christian
Böcker, Wolfgang
Nickel, Christian H.
Bingisser, Roland
Armbruster, Marco
Pedersen, Vera
Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title_full Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title_fullStr Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title_full_unstemmed Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title_short Incidental CT Findings in the Elderly with Low-Energy Falls: Prevalence and Implications
title_sort incidental ct findings in the elderly with low-energy falls: prevalence and implications
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8871195/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204445
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12020354
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