title: Acute pancreatitis: a comparison of intervention rates precipitated by early vs guideline CT scan timing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether computed tomography (CT) examination earlier in acute pancreatitis (AP) precipitates any surgical or radiological intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-centre retrospective cohort study comparing intervention rates in AP precipitated by early (<6 day of admission, n=100) and UK guideline (≥6 day of admission, n=103) CT examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No intervention was precipitated by performing CT before the sixth day of admission in AP. A statistically significant larger number of interventions were precipitated when CT was performed on the sixth day or later (p<0.05). Of note, this study was conducted using day of admission, rather than day of symptom onset. Six patients underwent repeat CT examination in the same admission after an early CT examination.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Performing CT before the sixth day of admission does not lead to earlier intervention. Such early examinations waste resources and may offer false reassurance to clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK. Electronic address: nicholas.dobbs@nhs.net.
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Dobbs
authors.affiliation: Gold Coast Radiology, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Budak
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Weir-McCall
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Vinnicombe
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Zealley
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult