Ultrasonography vs. CT for Acute Diverticulitis: A Prospective Head-to-Head Study

A 2026 prospective study of 63 patients presenting to an emergency department with suspected mild-to-moderate acute left colonic diverticulitis. The dataset, authored by Nuria Roson, compares diagnostic performance metrics for ultrasonography and computed tomography, including sensitivity, specificity, and agreement on severity stratification.

Use Cases

• Compare diagnostic sensitivity and specificity between imaging modalities based on the reported performance metrics.
• Analyze the relationship between C-reactive protein levels and radiological severity based on the study's findings.
• Assess inter-operator variability in ultrasound interpretation based on the reported increase in agreement with a more experienced operator.
• Benchmark diagnostic models for acute colonic diverticulitis against the reported 97.9% sensitivity and 91.7% specificity for ultrasonography.

Strengths

• Prospective study design with both imaging tests performed within one hour before treatment, reducing temporal bias.
• Diagnostic performance metrics are explicitly provided, including sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV for both US and CT.
• Includes statistical measures of agreement (Cohen's kappa) for severity stratification between modalities.

Limitations

• Limited sample size of 63 patients, as noted in the study's conclusion.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The study acknowledges operator dependence and a non-independent reference standard, which may limit generalizability.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Nuria Roson

Collection Method

Prospective clinical study with consecutive patients undergoing both ultrasonography and computed tomography.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-28 05:58:05; freshness should be verified.