Impact of Unenhanced Computed Tomography (CT) in Elderly Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department With Acute Abdominal Pain

Accuracy of Unenhanced CT in Elderly Patients Admitted to the Emergency Department With Acute Abdominal Symptoms

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02355483

Enrollment

423

Registered

2015-02-04

Start date

2012-05-31

Completion date

2014-08-31

Last updated

2015-02-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Abdominal Pain

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether non-contrast abdominal computed tomography (CT) impacts management (diagnosis, need for surgery and treatment) in elderly patients admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain.

Detailed description

A systematic unenhanced abdominal CT is performed in elderly patients admitted to the emergency patients with acute abdominal symptoms. Accuracy of unenhanced CT is assessed by comparing diagnosis and therapeutic management recorded before and after unenhanced CT versus gold standard diagnosis and management. Gold standard diagnosis and management are established at 3 month follow up, based on patient's medical records and a systematic telephone interview.

Interventions

DEVICEUnenhanced abdominal Computed Tomography

Systematic Unenhanced abdominal Computed tomography

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

75 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Elderly patients admitted to the emergency department (aged 75 year old and older) * acute abdominal pain * informed consent

Exclusion criteria

* traumatic pain * symptom duration of more than a week * unability for the patient to give informed consent

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Diagnostic accuracy	3 months	Emergency Department (ED) diagnosis made prospectively by the attending ED physician both before and after unenhanced abdominal CT is compared to the reference diagnosis established at 3 month follow-up. Both ED diagnosis and reference diagnosis are recorded using a standardized diagnosis list.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Therapeutic management accuracy	3 months	Therapeutic management made by the attending ED physician both before and after unenhanced abdominal CT is compared to reference management established at 3 month follow-up. Therapeutic management is assessed by patient orientation following ED admission, need for hospitalization and surgical or medical treatment.

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026