Abdominal CT Seanning in Critically III Surgical Patients

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Clinical parameters, intensive care unit (ICU) course, abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans and the clinical decisions of 53 critically ill patients were reviewed to determine the influence of the CT scan. No scans were positive before the 8th day. Sensitivity was 48% and specificity, 64%. Seventeen (23%) scans of the 72 provided beneficial results: 8 localized abscesses that were drained; 9 were negative and not operated on. Five (7%) scans provided detrimental information: scan negative with abscess discovered or scan positive but negative laparotomy. Fifty (70%) scans were either of no help or not used in management. The mortality rate was 50% when CT led to an intervention and 47% in the entire group. Hospital charges were .apprx.33,408. Personnel time and cost were 497 h and .apprx.3658; of the total .apprx.37,066, 77% (.apprx.28,541) could be considered wasted. From these data, it was concluded that CT scans should be used to confirm abscesses, not to search for a source of sepsis.