Geng WZM, Fuller M, Osborne B, Thoirs K. The value of the erect abdominal radiograph for the diagnosis of mechanical bowel obstruction and paralytic ileus in adults presenting with acute abdominal pain.
J Med Radiat Sci 2018;
65:259-266. [PMID:
30039624 PMCID:
PMC6275248 DOI:
10.1002/jmrs.299]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 06/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
There is discord on the value of the erect abdominal radiograph for diagnosing acute abdominal pathologies. The erect radiograph can be uncomfortable for patients in pain and increases patient radiation dose.
AIM
To determine if including the erect abdominal radiograph in plain abdominal radiography (PAR) improved diagnostic accuracy for identifying mechanical bowel obstruction and/or paralytic ileus in adults presenting with acute abdominal pain.
METHODS
PAR of 40 consecutive adults presenting with suspected bowel obstruction or paralytic ileus was retrospectively sampled and independently reviewed by two emergency department (ED) consultants and two radiology consultants for bowel obstruction and paralytic ileus across two sessions. In session 1, the assessors assessed the supine abdominal radiographs (PAR 1) and clinical details in a randomised order, and session 2, at least 6 weeks later, they assessed the supine and erect radiographs (PAR 2) and clinical details of the randomly re-ordered cases. Computed tomography was the reference standard. Pair-wise comparisons of receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated to assess for significant differences in participants' diagnostic accuracy using MedCalc 16.4.3.
RESULTS
Average sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) were 69.7%, 61.0% and 0.642 for PAR 1, respectively, and 80.0%, 53.4% and 0.632 for PAR 2 respectively. For AUROC there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between PAR 1 and PAR 2. Intra-rater and inter-rater agreement improved in PAR 2.
CONCLUSION
There was no statistically significant improvement in diagnostic accuracy when including the erect radiograph in PAR for the acute abdomen.
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