This week, unusually, we publish a study evaluating a diagnostic test. We also start a series about evaluating diagnostic procedures. On p 454 S J Andrews and colleagues show that ultrasonography combined with abdominal radiography performs just as well as intravenous urography in identifying abnormalities in men with urinary tract infections. Since this combination is safer than intravenous urography the authors recommend it as the initial investigation. In this study intravenous urography acted as the “gold standard,” but as André Knottnerus and colleagues explain in their introduction to our new series, sometimes there simply isn't an independent standard against …