title: The prevalence and implications of incidental findings on ED abdominal CT scans.
abstract: We reviewed reports from 321 consecutive emergency department (ED) noncontrast, helical "renal stone" abdominal CT scans obtained at a single medical center between April 1996 to June 1997 for incidental findings. Incidental findings were common (45% of scans), and approximately half were rated of "moderate" or "serious" concern by 2 independent reviewers (kappa = 0.72). ED records indicated that only 21% of incidental findings were documented, and only 11 (18%) of cases with findings of "moderate/severe" concern had evidence of follow-up on hospital chart review. Although work-up of these 11 cases did not yield any serious diagnoses, many potentially serious incidental findings without follow-up remain worrisome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Messersmith
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Barry
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000473:pathology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003085:Colic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*