Patient Safety Analysis in Radiation Burden of Head Computed Tomography Imaging in 1185 Neurosurgical Inpatients

An institutional review of hospital resource utilization and patient radiation exposure in shunted idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) frequently utilize healthcare services and undergo radiological studies to assess refractory headache symptoms despite cerebrospinal fluid diversion. To delineate the clinical utility of different imaging modalities and to estimate cumulative patient radiation exposure in shunted patients with IIH, we retrospectively reviewed 100 randomly selected patients with IIH and a prior cerebrospinal fluid diversion procedure treated at our institution between July 2010 and August 2018. Patients had an average of 16.3 office (SD ± 13.8), 12.4 emergency department (± 21.0), and 4.6 inpatient (± 5.1) encounters over an average 4.8 years of follow-up. Patients underwent an average of 9.0 head CTs (± 8.1), 10.3 shunt series x-rays (± 11.2), and 4.3 MRIs (± 3.7). Approximated radiation exposure per patient was 21.4 mSv (± 18.7). Radiological studies performed for acute symptoms usually demonstrated no actionable findings (82.5% CTs, 97.5% shunt series x-rays, and 79.6% MRIs). Shunted IIH patients undergo numerous radiological studies and are subject to considerable levels of radiation, yet imaging shows actionable findings in less than 10% percent of radiographic studies. IIH patients may benefit from radiation-reducing protocols and the use of alternative imaging to assess symptoms.