Tuesday, December 3 | 9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m. | T3-SSER01-3 | Room N228
Attendees will find out whether pelvic ultrasound exams in emergency settings are necessary following negative pelvic CT exams in this session.
In his presentation, Joseph James Cavallo, MD, from Yale University in New Haven, CT will present research showing that pelvic ultrasound exams performed within 24 hours following a negative pelvic CT exam are unlikely to affect immediate management.
To uncover this finding, the research team extracted imaging reports of patients seen across nine emergency departments between 2017 and 2020. The patients underwent pelvic ultrasound exams within 24 hours of having pelvic and abdominal CT exams. The team categorized findings into one of three groups: incidental finding with no follow-up needed (group 1), significant finding that may need non-emergent outpatient follow-up (group 2), and emergent finding that may affect acute management (group 3).
Final analysis included 1,569 patients, of whom 651 had negative pelvic findings on CT. For these 651 women, 433 (66.5%) had ultrasound findings that fit the criteria for group 1, 205 for group 2 (31.5%), and 13 for group 3 (2%).
The team also found that the negative predictive value (NPV) of a negative pelvic CT exam for group 3 was 98%. For the total patient population, the researchers observed that cases of tubo-ovarian abscess or torsion suggested on ultrasound imaging were missed when using the same criteria to identify abnormal CT exams.
“The findings of this study suggest that over 98% of subsequent ultrasound examinations do not influence immediate clinical decisions,” the team concluded. “Therefore, limiting follow-up ultrasounds in these scenarios in the emergency department could decrease healthcare costs and reduce … lengths of stay, thereby enhancing care efficiency and generating cost savings.”
Attend this session to find out more.
