The rhythm method

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2668

Published 2 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2668
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b2668

Editor's Choice

The rhythm method

Jane Smith, deputy editor, BMJ

jsmith@bmj.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The weekly print BMJ has a familiar rhythm, which those of youwho start at the front and work steadily to the back may recognise.

At the front—indeed, most of the way through—wehave lots of serious stuff. This week, for example, severalarticles consider the complexities of diagnosis. Wytze Lamérisand colleagues studied 11 diagnostic imaging strategies foracute abdominal pain (doi:10.1136/bmj.b2431). Although computedtomography after radiography was the most sensitive investigation,they conclude that radiography followed by ultrasound, withcomputed tomography reserved for people with negative or inconclusiveultrasound results, is the best strategy, with good sensitivityand less exposure to radiation. In their accompanying editorialAdrian Dixon and Christopher Watson set these findings in thecontext of advances in imaging, increasing surgical specialisation,and pressure on beds (doi:10.1136/bmj.b1678). "It will becomeuntenable for a patient to stay in hospital with an undiagnosedabdominal . . . [Full text of this article]

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