Incidental Findings on Non-Enhanced CT on Patients with Renal Colic

Samim et al in their article published by the Journal of AmericanCollege of Radiology report the prevalence and types of incidental findings on non-enhanced computed tomograms performed on patients with renal colic in the Emergency Department.

They reviewed 5,383 consecutive reports retrospectively of non-enhanced CT performed on adult patients using renal colic protocol at 2 emergency departments over a 5.5-year period. Incidental findings were defined as those unrelated to symptoms and were categorized as “important” if follow-up was recommended based on recently published consensus recommendations.

Important incidental findings (IF) were identified in 12.7% of scans. Prevalence of important incidental findings increased with age: important IF in individuals age >80 years were 4 times more common than for those aged 18-30 years: 28.9% versus 6.9%, respectively, (P ≤ .05). Women had a higher prevalence of important IF compared with men: 13.4% versus 11.9%, but the difference was not statically significant (P = .09). There was substantial inter-rater agreement (kappa ≥ 0.69) regarding presence and classification of important incidental findings using published guidelines.

The authors concluded that important incidental findings occurred in 12.7% of non-enhanced CT scans performed for suspected renal colic in the emergency department and are more common in older individuals.