Radiography of Lumbosacral Column in Acute Lumbar Pain: Use or Overuse? Experience in the Emergency Service of Two High-Complexity Centers in Bogotá, Colombia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53903/01212095.68Keywords:
Low back pain, Lumbosacral region, Health care costsAbstract
Introduction: Low back pain is a disease with a high frequency and a recurrence worldwide, there are Introduction: Low back pain is a high frequency disease with a high recurrence worldwide. There are absolute indications to request radiography, avoiding its increase and associated costs. Objective: To determine the frequency of the use of lumbosacral spine radiography requested to adult patients with acute low back pain who entered the emergency room at two clinics of high complexity during 2016 and the associated costs. Methodology: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Sample of 192 patient diagnosed with acute low back pain with lumbosacral spine radiography and who met the inclusion criterio. The prevalence of red flags were calculated, symptoms and background that justified the request, as well as the main radiological findings of unjustified radiographs and their associated costs. Results: The frequency of the request for radiography in the emergency departments related to low back pain was 56.43%. More than half of the radiological findings are degenerative. 13.54% of the radiographs were not indicated by red flags and 9.37% were not indicated by red flags or associated symptoms. The associated costs were 15.926 USD /year. Conclusions: Lumbosacral spine radiography has a low diagnostic yield in patients with acute low back pain who enter the emergency room due to low specificity and low sensitivity, lack of patient preparation, and should not be requested in this service, unless there is high suspicion, with a physical examination and exhaustive interrogation.
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