[Indications for x-rays of the skull and cervical spine: an open question]. / Indicazioni alle radiografie del cranio e della colonna cervicale: problematica aperta.

ABSTRACT

During the first six months of 1990, a study was carried out on a group of patients examined at the Neuroradiology Department of a Neurological Institute for skull and cervical spine X-rays. Kind of disturbances, the examination prescribed and patients' places of origin were taken into consideration. We studied 174 patients 108 suffering from headache, 28 from cervical arthrosis, and the others from miscellaneous diseases. Male/Female ratio (M/F) was lower in the group affected by headache; the age was more advanced in the group affected by cervical arthrosis. Skull X-rays were usually normal in headache patients; cervical X-rays were not informative in cervical arthrosis patients. We can conclude that only through a different relationship between the prescribing physician and the Radiologist it will be possible to approach the justification and optimization criteria of medical radiological exposure.