Between them, the 96 patients underwent 389 x-rays, 92 ultrasound scans, 192 CT scans, and 6 MRI scans – a total of 679 procedures.
They had all been admitted to a single hospital between July and Dec 2021 and the sample size accounted for a quarter of all the patients aged 80 or over who died during that time.
Some 28 per cent of the patients studied had between six and nine different scans, while 26 per cent had 10 or more. Nearly a third of those aged 90 and above underwent six to nine radiological procedures during the study period.
More than two in five, or 43 per cent, of patients between 80 and 85 years old had 10 or more scans, which was higher than any other age group.
‘Questions regarding the real benefit’
“These results raise questions regarding the real benefit of radiological investigations in this patient cohort,” the researchers said. “It has been estimated that between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of high-tech imaging scans did not provide additional information to improve patient outcomes.
“Furthermore, the motivation for imaging requests may not always be entirely for diagnostic benefit, and it has been shown that scans may be requested for fear of medico-legal ramifications or as a result of patient expectation,” they added.