ArticleInternational journal of emergency medicine2024
The utility of the abdominal series in the emergency setting: a retrospective review.
Article in International journal of emergency medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Diagnostic utility of abdominal radiography in emergency departments with high guideline compliance: a retrospective cohort study.Emergency radiology · 2026Article
- Beyond diagnosis: deep-learning-based analysis of hospitalization using abdominal radiographs in the emergency department.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
purposeThe abdominal series (AXR) remains a frequently ordered test in the emergency department (ED), despite existing literature questioning its utility. The aim of this study was to characterize the use of the AXR in the ED by quantifying how often it is ordered and the frequency of subsequent imaging. Additionally, a time estimate in ED associated with the AXR was quantified. We hypothesized that there would be a low clinical utility of the AXR, and long associated time period spent in the ED.
methodsA retrospective audit of AXRs performed in the ED from January to December 2019 was performed. The local picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and electronic medical record were used to collect the variables.
resultsOf 701 AXRs, 438 (62.4%) were reported normal, and 263 (37.6%) were abnormal. A Chi Squared test showed that the two variables (abdominal series result and follow up imaging completion) were significantly related, with p < 0.001. However, the effect size was small (Nagelkerke R square = 0.022). The average time spent in the ED for these patients was 7.27 h, and the average time between the AXR being ordered and interpreted was 1.31 h.
conclusionThe majority of AXRs were reported as normal. Our results showed that AXR had a statistically significant, but low clinically significant predictive ability on subsequent imaging ordering. This supports our hypothesis that the AXR is of low clinical utility with respect to the rate of ordering follow up imaging. The AXR also translated to a quantifiable time interval during the patient's stay in ED. Minimizing overuse of the AXR may result in a decrease in patient duration in the ED.
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