Radiology: CTA outperforms other studies for intestinal bleeding
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| Image of 83-year-old woman with acute rectal bleeding and hypotension. Source: Radiology |
Jorge A. Soto, MD, of the department of radiology at Boston Medical Center, and colleagues wanted to determine the diagnostic performance of CT angiography, primarily because the current preferred diagnostic procedures for gastrointestinal hemorrhages either have preparation challenges that limit use in an ED setting, such as colonoscopy, or can’t localize the precise source of bleeding, as is the case with scintigraphy.
The researchers performed a prospective study of 47 patients, mean age of 68 years, with acute lower gastrointestinal tract bleeding who were referred to undergo emergency colonoscopy. All patients underwent CT angiography shortly after arrival to the ED. Findings of ongoing or recent hemorrhages were compared with the standard of reference, which was the colonoscopy or, in some cases, conventional angiography and surgical findings.
CT angiography showed active bleeding in 14 patients and evidence of recent hemorrhage in six patients. Positive predictive value and negative predictive value of CT angiography in showing ongoing or recent hemorrhages was 95 and 100 percent, respectively. The findings of CT angiography were consistent with the standard of reference in 44 out of 47 patients.
“Rather than restricting it to cases where colonoscopy fails initially, in the majority of cases, we propose CT angiography as the first step in diagnostic evaluation of patients with substantial bleeding for confirmation of active or recent hemorrhage and correct identification of the site and cause of bleeding,” wrote the authors. “In this setting, despite some limitations, findings of our study confirm the high diagnostic performance of CT angiography, allowing us to propose CT angiography as a good alternative for the initial emergent evaluation of patients with acute lower intestinal bleeding.”
The principal limitation identified by the authors was the small patient group, which was limited by the requirement that patients must have been referred for colonoscopy, not simply present with a complaint of gastrointestinal hemorrhage. For this reason, the study did not have a true control group.
Nonetheless, the researchers recommended CT angiography due to the fact that it’s noninvasive, rapid, reproducible and widely available. It can also be performed without the need for colonic preparation.
Evan Godt, Writer
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.