title: Current use of screening laboratory tests before abdominal interventions: a survey of 603 radiologists.
abstract: A survey of 2,153 radiologists was conducted to assess both their current practices of evaluating hemostatic function and their use of blood tests before performing image-guided nonvascular abdominal interventions. Among the 603 (28%) who responded, more radiologists routinely perform prothrombin time (81%) or partial thromboplastin time (78%) tests than platelet counts (59%), and relatively few (7%) obtain bleeding times. The most common practice (51%) is to order all of the first three tests. Use of laboratory tests is quite common (greater than 75%) before biopsy of splenic masses, hemangiomas, or hepatomas and before all catheter insertions. These tests are used less frequently (less than or equal to 70%) before fine-needle procedures, including biopsy and cyst aspiration. Only one-third of the radiologists alter their evaluation in patients who have taken aspirin. Most respondents (64%) believe that there should be written guidelines on how to evaluate patients before interventional procedures. Virtually all (97%) thought such evaluation should be the radiologist's responsibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: B F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Coughlin
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Seltzer
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Swensson
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Mueller
mesh_terms: D001241:Aspirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001760:Bleeding Time; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002404:Catheterization; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D015642:Radiology, Interventional; D013396:Suction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D001241:Aspirin