Background/introduction
Urinary stone disease is common, with a lifetime prevalence of 12% for men and 6% for women.(1) Renal colic is a descriptor of the acute-onset, spasmodic loin pain that occurs when a urinary stone obstructs the ureter, leading to distension of urinary tract proximal to the stone.(2)
Computed tomography of the kidneys, ureters and bladder (CT KUB) is the gold-standard imaging investigation to assess patients with acute renal colic.(3) As such, it is commonly requested in acute settings in the diagnosis of urinary stone disease....
Description of activity and work performed
Methods
We conducted a quality improvement project to determine the optimal FoV for a CT KUB examination and assess whether this is being followed. We also collected radiation dose data.
Over a three-month period, CT KUB examinations completed by a single Aquilion ONE CT scanner (Canon Medical Systems, Otawara, Japan) at a UK National Health Service (NHS) district general hospital were included in the study.
For each study, the following data items were collected:
Vertebral level at which the superior-most kidney is fully included
Vertebral...
Conclusion and recommendations
This study demonstrated that the FoV of a CT KUB need only extend from T10 to the pubic symphysis. Such a scan captures the superior pole of the kidney to the base of the urinary bladder. In our study, only 96% of CT KUB scans terminated at or below the T10 level, and only 15% commenced at the level of the pubic symphysis. The radiation dose administered in our study is within the threshold of national practice. Extending the FoV increases the dose administered to...
Personal/organisational information
R. Karthigan; Se17eh/UK - nothing to disclose S. Kumar; NEW DELHI/IN - nothing to disclose M. Murray; Epsom/UK - nothing to disclose C. E. Munday; Milton Keynes/UK - nothing to disclose A. Datta; London/UK - nothing to disclose I. Theodoulou; London/UK - nothing to disclose S. Kulkarni; London/UK - nothing to disclose S. Aykac; London/UK - nothing to disclose
References
1. Curhan GC. Epidemiology of Stone Disease. Vol. 34, Urologic Clinics of North America. 2007. p. 287–93.
2. Bultitude M, Rees J. Management of renal colic. Vol. 345, BMJ (Online). 2012.
3. Tsiotras A, Smith RD, Pearce I, O’Flynn K, Wiseman O. British Association of Urological Surgeons standards for management of acute ureteric colic. J Clin Urol [Internet]. 2018 Jan 6 [cited 2020 Jan 11];11(1):58–61. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2051415817740492
4. Niemann T, Kollmann T, Bongartz G. Diagnostic performance of low-dose CT for the detection of urolithiasis:...