title: Ureteric colic: value of initial investigations and the outcome.
abstract: During a one-year period (from April 1992 to April 1993), 294 patients with the complaint of ureteric colic seen at the Emergency Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital were investigated with a plain X-ray of the kidney, ureter and bladder (KUB), urinary analysis (urine FEME) and subsequently intravenous urogram (IVU) at the outpatient clinic. The results showed that majority (73%) of the patients were male. Sixty percent of the cohort were in the age group 30-50 years. After evaluation, it was found that only 114 (39%) of the patients with ureteric colic had abnormal IVU. Among these patients, 99 were diagnosed to have calculus disease, 12 with urothelial tumours, 1 with renal cyst and 2 had no pathology detected. Nevertheless most (72%) of the patients did not require intervention. In addition, it was noted that if the KUB or urine FEME was positive, the chances that a urological pathology was present were 72% and 91% respectively. However, if both of them were negative, the chance that a pathology would not be present was 93%. This suggests that patient selection is very essential to avoid unnecessary investigations.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Consigliere
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Low
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003085:Colic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014515:Ureteral Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014567:Urography