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Acute flank pain: comparison of non-contrast-enhanced CT and intravenous urography
R C Smith1, A T Rosenfield, K A Choe
1Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510.
Purpose:
To compare non-contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and intravenous urography (IVU) in the evaluation of patients who present with acute flank pain and in whom ureteric obstruction is suspected.
Materials And Methods:
The findings at non-contrast-enhanced CT and IVU in 20 patients with acute flank pain were compared for the presence or absence of ureteric obstruction and delineation of ureteric stones.
Results:
Twelve of the 20 patients had non-contrast-enhanced CT and IVU findings consistent with ureteric obstruction. Of these 12 patients, five had a ureteric stone that was demonstrated on both non-contrast-enhanced CT scans and IVU radiographs, six had a stone that was depicted on non-contrast-enhanced CT scans only, and in one patient a stone could not be delineated definitively on either non-contrast-enhanced CT scans or IVU radiographs. Eight patients had findings at non-contrast-enhanced CT and IVU consistent with the absence of obstruction.
Conclusion:
Non-contrast-enhanced CT is more effective than IVU in precisely identifying ureteric stones and is equally effective as IVU in the determination of the presence or absence of ureteric obstruction.