The Prevalence of Incidentally Detected Urolithiasis in Subjects Undergoing Computerized Tomography

Abstract

Background and objective Urolithiasis is defined as the presence of calculi in the urinary tract. Multiple studies have shown that urinary tract stones are one of the most common incidental findings in medical imaging. These stones are potentially dangerous and can cause severe impairment to renal function if they remain undiagnosed for a long time. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of incidentally detected urolithiasis in patients undergoing abdominopelvic CT scans. Materials and methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted, which involved 721 patients selected by consecutive non-randomized sampling. The study population included patients who underwent an abdominopelvic CT scan in the radiology department of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Patients aged below 10 years and those above 90 years were excluded from the study. Patients undergoing kidney, ureter, and bladder (KUB) scan for urolithiasis-associated symptoms and those with already known urolithiasis were also excluded. The data were recorded in a predesigned pro forma and analyzed with SPSS Statistics version 20.00 (IBM, Armonk, NY). Results A total of 721 patients underwent an abdominopelvic CT scan during the six months from July to December in the radiology department of the hospital. Out of these, 336 (46.6%) were males, and 385 (53.4%) were females. Incidental stones were found in 20 of these patients. Among these 20 stone formers, 11 were males, and nine were females. Out of them, six had stones in the right kidney, eight in the left kidney, and four patients had bilateral stones. The remaining two patients had stones in their ureters. In most cases, stones were found in lower poles as compared to the mid pole and upper pole of the kidneys. Conclusion The prevalence of incidentally detected urolithiasis was found to be 2.8% in this study. Its frequency was much higher in males (3.27%) compared to females (2.33%). Most of the stones were found in the kidneys whereas no stone was detected in the urinary bladder.