Comparison of Kidney-Ureter-Bladder Radiography with Computed Tomography Scout Film for the Diagnosis of Renal Calculi Taking Axial Computed Tomography as Gold Standard

Background: Nephrolithiasis is a widespread disease with an incidence of 17-13 in North American, 5-9% in Europe, and 1-5% in the Asian continent. Plain abdominal radiography is used to visualize renal stones, but the cysteine stones are often poorly visible, uric acid and mixed stones are not visible at all. The second diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of renal calculus is computed tomography. The CT scout film is often overlooked and did not use for the diagnostic purpose. Objective: To compare Kidney-ureter-bladder radiography with computed tomography scout film for the diagnosis of renal calculi taking axial computed tomography as a gold standard. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional analytical study design conducted on 57 patients presenting with acute flank pain in Faisal Hospital Faisalabad. Patients having ages between 18-60 were included in the study. Pregnant patients and patients with lndinavir therapy were excluded from the study. Results: The sensitivity recorded for CT scout film was 66.7% and for the plain abdominal radiography was 80.7%. The calculus carrying Hounse field unit less than 200 HU were not visualized on both the modalities x-ray and plain abdominal radiography. However, the calculus greater than 5mm in size has a sensitivity of 73% on CT scout film. Conclusion: The sensitivity recorded for CT scout film was 66.7% and for the plain abdominal radiography was 80.7%. The calculus carrying Hounse field unit less than 200 HU were not visualized on both the modalities x-ray and plain abdominal radiography. However, the calculus greater than 5mm in size has a sensitivity of 73% on CT scout film.