Abstract
Urinary lithiasis (kidney stones), which is characterized by severe flank pain, is a very common clinical entity in the adult population. Intravenous urography has been the modality of choice for evaluating patients with acute flank pain, but a new approach to diagnosis may prove to be more accurate and cost effective. The basis of this new approach to assessing acute flank pain is helical computed tomography which, rather than imaging "slice by slice," images an entire volume by continuous data acquisition. This article describes the clinical and economic benefits associated with this new technology.
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