Health technology assessment : HTA
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Health Technol Assess · May 2004
Review Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialDoes early imaging influence management and improve outcome in patients with low back pain? A pragmatic randomised controlled trial.
To establish whether the early use of sophisticated imaging techniques influences the clinical management and outcome of patients with low back pain (LBP) and whether it is cost-effective. ⋯ The early use of sophisticated imaging does not appear to affect management overall but does result in a slight improvement in clinical outcome at an estimated cost of 870 British pounds per QALY. Imaging was associated with an increase in clinicians' diagnostic confidence, particularly for non-specialists. Further research is required to determine if more rapid referral to sophisticated imaging and secondary care is important in the acute episode and whether the use of imaging would be more beneficial for particular categories of LBP.