Can J Emerg Med
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Adverse events are rare among adults 50 years of age and younger with flank pain when abdominal computed tomography is not clinically indicated according to the emergency physician.
Many emergency physicians (EPs) order "confirmatory" abdominal computed tomography (CT) in young flank pain patients, despite a high clinical suspicion of renal colic and the risk of radiation exposure. We measured the adverse outcome rate among flank pain patients identified as not requiring abdominal CT by the EP on a data form, regardless of whether CT was eventually ordered. Our secondary objective was to describe diagnoses other than renal colic identified by CT in this population. ⋯ Adverse events were rare (< 1.5%) among patients < 50 years old with flank pain when CT was not required according to the clinical assessment of the EP. Future research should assess the adverse outcomes of withholding CT in low-risk patients using a larger patient sample.