Researchers at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, US, said bedside exams sometimes lead to better results than costly CT scans in post-operative scenarios.
Researchers at the university examined 251 patient records where CT scans were used within 24 hours of surgery.
Their results showed that CT scans could not determine if post-op surgery was required, despite being made routine by a number of doctors.
Bedside examinations were in most cases enough to determine a patient’s status.
Out of ten cases dealing with patients who received bedside neurological exams three cases detected serious problems that warranted an urgent CT scan, confirming the patients’ problems were serious enough to require a return to the operating room.
Loyola neurosurgeon and senior researcher of the study Thomas Origitano said that scanning technology is good but applying it without a physician’s input is not necessarily helpful in a post-op environment.
The study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery also discovered that the best time to get a CT scan was around a day later after brain surgery.
