Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27166963›Full record

ReviewEmergency radiology2016

Oral contrast for CT in patients with acute non-traumatic abdominal and pelvic pain: what should be its current role?

Ania Z Kielar, Michael N Patlas, Douglas S Katz

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Emergency radiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. [Enteral contrast media-when, what, and how?]Radiologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
  2. [Enteral contrast agents-When, what and how?]Radiologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Oral CT Contrast Agents: What's New and Why, From theAJR. American journal of roentgenology · 2024
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Ania Z KielarOttawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, 1053 Carling Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Michael N PatlasDivision of Emergency/Trauma Radiology, Department of Radiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. patlas@hhsc.ca.
Douglas S KatzDepartment of Radiology, Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Positive oral contrast agents, including barium suspensions and water-soluble iodinated solutions, have traditionally been used in conjunction with the CT evaluation of patients with abdominal and pelvic pain. Due to continued advancements in CT technology, and due to increasing obesity and correspondingly a general increase in the intra-abdominal and intra-pelvic fat separating bowel loops in North American patients and in patients in other parts of the world over the past few decades, the ability of radiologists to accurately evaluate the cause of acute symptoms has substantially improved. Recent research and evolving imaging society guidelines/systematic reviews increasingly support performing CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis without the need for positive oral contrast in these types of adult patient populations, in most clinical situations. Increased patient throughput, patient preference, patient safety, and most importantly, retention of high diagnostic accuracy, are reasons for this recent change in practice to routinely omit the use of enteric contrast agents for the majority of patients presenting with acute abdominal and pelvic pain whom are undergoing emergency CT.

Indexed as

Abdominal PainAdministration, OralContrast MediaHumansPelvic PainTomography, X-Ray ComputedContrast MediaAbdominal and pelvic painComputed tomographyDiagnostic accuracyEmergency radiologyOral contrast

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.