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[Which is the best performing imaging method for demonstrating residual renal calculi?]
O Gaucher1, L Cormier, M Deneuville
1Service d'Urologie, CHU de Nancy-Brabois, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France.
Objectives:
To compare the results of plain abdominal films, tomography, ultrasonography and spiral computed tomography in the detection of residual stone fragments after extracorporeal lithotripsy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy.
Material And Methods:
Prospective study on 31 patients and 40 renal units comparing the results obtained by plain abdominal films, tomography, ultrasonography and spiral CT.
Results:
This study demonstrates the superiority of spiral CT over the other examinations for detection of renal stones (sensitivity of 100% for spiral CT, 89.2% for tomography, 82.1% for plain abdominal films and 67.8% for ultrasonography), determination of their number (n = 68, 58, 60 and 27, respectively) and demonstration of millimetric stones (100%, 69.4%, 67.8% and 2.7%, respectively).
Conclusion:
Spiral CT is the method of renal stone imaging which provides the most reliable diagnosis of radiopaque, non radiopaque, millimetric or centimetric stones, regardless of local anatomical conditions.