[Tomodensitometric image of the lumbar spine. Study of 150 patients hospitalized for discal sciatica]

There would be some discordance between patient expectations and expert recommendations concerning computed tomography (CT) of the spine for discal disorders. We analyzed patient opinion.

At admission, a 25-item questionnaire was given to 150 patients hospitalized in a rheumatology unit for discal sciatica. Patients were asked to express their expectations concerning the CT exploration.

Seventy percent of the patients had already undergone CT explorations requested by a general practitioner (55%) or a specialist (45%), 20% had had two CT explorations and 20% magnetic resonance imaging. Seventy-five percent felt they should have had a CT scan earlier, 85% thought a CT should be performed for back pain of less than one month duration and 96% in case of sciatica for 2 months or more. Patients felt their exploration came "late" because the physician was under financial pressure (52%), had incorrectly appreciated the patient's need (28%) or was incompetent in the matter (22%). Nevertheless, 15% of the patients recognized that the CT scan could be useless and 89% knew that all cases of hernia are not operable. Thirty percent recognized that hernias can go undetected on the CT scan and 78% that they may remain asymptomatic. Finally, 56% of the patients thought that the CT scan would not change their treatment and only 23% expected to undergo surgery sooner because of the CT exploration.

Several factors would explain what patients expect from CT exploration of the spine: patient understanding that causes other than discal hernia can cause back pain (98%) or sciatic (77%); their fear of having another disorder (56% wanted to be reassured, which would explain in part why 27% hoped the CT would improve pain, 50% wanted to "see" their discal hernia, and 30 wanted to eliminate another cause of their pain); patient distrust of clinical diagnosis which they felt was less pertinent than CT (80% of the patients for generalists and 70% for specialists). Patient expectations did not appear to be limited by fear of irradiation (unrecognized by 90% of the patients) nor the cost of the exploration which was overestimated by 70% of them.