Management of solid tumors in children: contribution of computed tomography

To evaluate the impact of computed tomography (CT) on therapeutic management decisions in solid tumors of the chest and abdomen, 92 examinations on 54 children with 13 histologic tumor types were analyzed. The CT impact on the management decisions was analyzed in relation to other diagnostic procedures of the same body part including sonography, chest films with tomography, abdominal/pelvic films, and excretory urography. Overall, CT provided the essential information of 47% of management decision. By confirming non-CT examination results it helped direct therapeutic decisions in 28%. No additional information was derived from CT in 20%. Technically poor studies in 5% resulted in CT errors. According to the procedural method, CT provided additional information in 42% when compared with sonography, in 38% when compared with chest films and tomography, in 41% when compared with abdominal/pelvic films, and in 27% when compared with intravenous urography. The investigation showed that CT provided information directly affecting the therapeutic management decision in a significant number of patients.