Current Use of Computed Tomographic Urography: Survey of the Society of Uroradiology

Brent A. Townsend, MD, Stuart G. Silverman, MD, Koenraad J. Mortele, MD, Kemal Tuncali, MD, and Richard H. Cohan, MD

Objective: To determine uroradiologists opinions and practices re­garding computed tomographic (CT) urography.

Methods: A Web-based survey was sent via e-mail to all 259 mem­bers of the Society of Uroradiology. Of the 229 successfully delivered e-mails, 90 (39%) members responded.

Results: Of 90 uroradiologists, 87% perform CT urography. Com­pared with intravenous (IV) urography, 69% of uroradiologists use CT urography more than 75% of the time urinary tract imaging is requested; 27% stated that CT urography has completely replaced IV urography. Most uroradiologists perform CT urography using multidetector-row CT alone (79%) and use a 3-phase technique (52%) using a single injec­tion (76%) of contrast material at 3 mL/s (52%) without a compression device (81%) and with the patient in supine position (80%).

Conclusions: Most uroradiologists use CT urography in their practice today; some no longer perform IV urography. Variability in multidetector-row CT technique suggests that more research is needed to determine the optimal protocol