Study objective-We determine whether renal point-of-care limited ultrasonography (PLUS) used in conjunction with the Sex, Timing, Origin, Nausea, Erythrocytes (STONE) clinical prediction score can aid identification of emergency department (ED) patients with uncomplicated ureteral stone or need for urologic intervention.Methods-This was a prospective observational study of adult ED patients undergoing computed tomography (CT) scan for suspected ureteral stone. The previously validated STONE score classifies patients into risk categories of low (≈10%), moderate (≈50%), or high (≈90%) for symptomatic stone. Renal PLUS assessed for presence of hydronephrosis before CT scanning. The primary outcomes of symptomatic ureteral stone or acutely important alternative finding were abstracted from CT reports. The secondary outcome, urologic intervention, was assessed by 90-day follow-up interview and record review.Results-Of 835 enrolled patients, ureteral stone was identified in 53%, whereas 6.5% had an acutely important alternative finding on CT. Renal PLUS modestly increased sensitivity for symptomatic stone among low and moderate STONE score categories. Moderate or greater hydronephrosis improved specificity from 67% (62% to 72%) to 98% (93% to 99%) and 42% (37% to 47%) to 92% (86% to 95%) in low-and moderate-risk patients, with likelihood ratios of 22 (95% CI, 4.2-111) and 4.9 (95% CI, 2.9-8.3), respectively. Test characteristics among high-risk patients were unchanged by renal PLUS. For urologic intervention, any hydronephrosis was 66% sensitive (57% to 74%), whereas moderate or greater hydronephrosis was 86% specific overall * Corresponding Author. brockdaniels@gmail.com. Author contributions: BD and CLM conceived the study. CPG, DS, and CLM and obtained research funding. SL and CLM supervised the conduct of the trial and data collection. SL participated in recruitment of patients. AM, SL, RJ, and CLM managed the data, including quality control. CPG and AM provided statistical advice. CPG, AM, and DS provided advisement on study design and methodology. BD, AM, RJ, and CLM analyzed the data. BD drafted the article and all authors contributed substantially to its revision. BD takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.Presented as an abstract at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting, May 2014, Dallas, TX.Clinical trial registration number: NCT01352676
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