Table 3.
Indications for 600 CTs among 200 patients with high estimated cumulative radiation exposure (≥100 mSv/10 years).
|
Proportion of CTs |
Positive resulta |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | (95% CI) | n | % | OR | (95% CI) | ||
| 1 | Restaging of solid cancer | 110 | 18.3% | (14.9 – 21.8%) | 20 | 18.2% | 0.34 | (0.17–0.65) |
| 2 | Abdominal pain | 103 | 17.2% | (13.8 – 20.5%) | 33 | 32.0% | 0.79 | (0.44–1.43) |
| 3 | Lymphoma restaging | 73 | 12.2% | (9.4 – 15.0%) | 11 | 15.1% | 0.24 | (0.10–0.56) |
| 4 | Infection | 42 | 7.0% | (4.9 – 9.1%) | 22 | 52.4% | 2.06 | (0.94–4.51) |
| 5 | All otherb | 36 | 6.0% | (4.0 – 8.0%) | 12 | 33.3% | Referencec | |
| 6 | Nephrolithiasis workup | 34 | 5.7% | (3.8 – 7.6%) | 17 | 50.0% | 1.59 | (0.68–3.72) |
| 7 | Nodule/mass follow up | 31 | 5.2% | (3.3 – 7.0%) | 8 | 22.6% | 0.50 | (0.18–1.39) |
| 8 | Chest pain/pulmonary embolism rule-out | 30 | 5.0% | (3.2 – 6.8%) | 2 | 6.7% | 0.10 | (0.02–0.47) |
| 9 | Initial workup for/of cancer | 23 | 3.8% | (2.3 – 5.4%) | 15 | 65.2% | Referencec | |
| 10 | Vascular restaging | 23 | 3.8% | (2.3 – 5.4%) | 9 | 39.1% | 
|
|
| 11 | Motor vehicle accident | 16 | 2.7% | (1.4 – 4.0%) | 5 | 31.3% | ||
| 12 | Headache | 13 | 2.2% | (1.0 – 3.3%) | 1 | 7.7% | ||
| 13 | Fall | 12 | 2.0% | (0.9 – 3.1%) | 2 | 16.7% | ||
| 14 | Trauma (other than motor vehicle accident, fall) | 12 | 2.0% | (0.9 – 3.1%) | 6 | 50.0% | ||
| 15 | Activity of inflammatory bowel disease | 10 | 1.7% | (0.6 – 2.7%) | 5 | 50.0% | ||
| 16 | Painless hematuria | 9 | 1.5% | (0.5 – 2.5%) | 5 | 55.6% | ||
| 17 | Stroke | 7 | 1.2% | (0.3 – 2.0%) | 2 | 28.6% | ||
| 18 | Altered mental status | 5 | 0.8% | (0.1 – 1.6%) | 0 | 0% | ||
| 19 | Back pain, nontraumatic | 4 | 0.7% | (0.0 – 1.3%) | 1 | 25.0% | ||
| 20 | Hemorrhage (other than hematuria, stroke) | 4 | 0.7% | (0.0 – 1.3%) | 2 | 50.0% | ||
| 21 | Pain (other than headache, chest, abdominal) | 2 | 0.3% | (0.0 – 0.8%) | 1 | 50.0% | Referencec | |
| 22 | Unclear (unable to tell from medical record) | 1 | 0.2% | (0.0 – 0.5%) | Unknown | Unknown | ||
| 600 | 100% | 178 | 29.7% | |||||
a
Positive results are defined as results related to the main indication, or major findings that would necessitate timely changes in plan of care. Odds ratios assess how common positive results are among specific “top” indications compared to the remainder of the indications, accounting for within-patient correlation between the three CTs per patient.
b
The category “all other” contains all indications not described by the 21 listed indications.
c
Indications with fewer than 30 CTs (ranks 9–22) and “All other” served as the reference category for comparisons of positivity.