Thoracic CT in detecting occult disease in critically ill patients

Bedside chest radiography is important in the detection of thoracic disease in critically ill patients. Unfortunately these studies are often of poor technical quality and are frequently difficult to interpret. Eighty-seven bedside chest radiographs and concurrent thoracic CT scans obtained in 56 critically ill patients over a 20-month period were interpreted retrospectively and independently. In most cases, the studies were obtained to search for a source of sepsis, fever, or unexplained clinical deterioration. In this series, thoracic CT added significantly more diagnostic information in 61 (70%) of these studies than was available from the corresponding bedside radiographs. Despite the difficulties of transporting critically ill patients for CT and the significant cost, our results suggest that the improved rate of detection of unsuspected thoracic disease justifies the use of CT when bedside radiographic examinations fail to adequately explain the clinical findings.