Skip to main content
Log in

State of the art trends in imaging renal of colic

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Emergency Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Radiology has a primary role in the work-up of renal colic, both to confirm urolithiasis and to help determine management. The traditional imaging has been conventional radiography and intravenous urogram with multidetector non-contrast-enhanced helical computed tomography (NCECT) now the modality of choice. Nuclear medicine studies for renal colic are done now infrequently at most institutions. Ultrasound (US) is often done, especially in the emergency department, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is promising. Radiation dose reduction is now on everyone’s minds: Lower-dose CT techniques are being tested and used, and US and MR are considered as first modalities of choice in pregnant women and children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tamm EP, Silverman PM, Shuman WP (2003) Evaluation of the patient with flank pain and possible ureteral calculus. Radiology 228(2):319–329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Jindal G, Ramchandani P (2007) Acute Flank pain secondary to urolithiasis: radiologic evaluation and alternate diagnoses. Radiol Clin North Am 45(3):395–410

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Masarani M, Dinneen M (2007) Ureteric colic: new trends in diagnosis and treatment. J Postgrad Med 83:469–472

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lee JL, Kim SH, Cho JY, Han D (2001) Color and power Doppler twinkling artifacts from urinary stones: clinical observations and phantom studies. AJR 176:1441–1445

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Oktar SO, Yücel C, Özdemir H, Karaosmanoglu D (2004) Doppler sonography of renal obstruction: value of venous impedance index measurements. J Ultrasound Med 23:929–936

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Smith RC et al (1995) Acute flank pain: comparison of non-contrast CT and IVU. Radiology 194:789–794

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Schwartz B, Schenkman N, Armenakas N, Stoller M (1999) Imaging characteristics of indinavir calculi. J Urol 161:1085–1087

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rucker CM, Menias CO, Bhalla S (2004) Mimics of renal colic: alternative diagnoses at unenhanced helical CT. Radiographics 24:S11–S33

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Sudah M et al (2002) Patients with acute flank pain: comparison of MR urography with unenhanced helical CT1. Radiology 223:98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Lee CI, Haims AH, Monico EP, Brink JA, Forman HP (2004) Diagnostic CT scans: assessment of patient, physician, and radiologist awareness of radiation dose and possible risks. Radiology 231:393–398

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Heneghan JP, McGuire KA, Leder RA, Delong DM, Yoshizumi T, Nelson RC (2003) Helical CT for nephrolithiasis and ureterolithiasis: comparison of conventional and reduced radiation-dose techniques. Radiology 229:575–580

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Tack D, Sourtzis S, Delpierre I, de Maertelaer V, Gevenois PA (2003) Low-dose unenhanced multidetector CT of patients with suspected renal colic. AJR 180:305–311

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Katz SI, Saluja S, Brink JA, Forman HP (2006) Radiation dose associated with unenhanced CT for suspected renal colic: impact of repetitive studies. AJR 186:1120–1124

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Poletti PA, Platon A, Rutschmann OT, Schmidlin FR, Iselin CE, Becker CD (2007) Low-dose versus standard-dose CT protocol in patients with clinically suspected renal colic. AJR 188(4):927–933

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Arnis S (2007) American college of radiology white paper on radiation dose in medicine. J Am Coll Radiol 4:272–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Brenner DJ, Hall EJ (2007) Computed tomography—an increasing source of radiation exposure. N Engl J Med 357(22):2277–2284 November 29, 2007

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Patel SJ, Reede DL, Katz DS, Subramaniam R, Amorosa JK (2007) Imaging the pregnant patient for nonobstetric conditions: algorithms and radiation dose considerations. Radiographics 27:1705–1722

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. McCollough CH et al (2007) Radiation exposure and pregnancy: when should we be concerned? Radiographics 27:909–917

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Boswell W, Hossein J, Palmer S (2007) Diagnostic kidney imaging. Brenner & Rector’s The Kidney 8th edition, Chapter 27, Copyright Elsevier, pp 839

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sravanthi Reddy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reddy, S. State of the art trends in imaging renal of colic. Emerg Radiol 15, 217–225 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-008-0705-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-008-0705-6

Keywords

Navigation