Are Oblique Radiographs Useful for Distal Extremity Injuries?
The elimination of routine radiographic views that do not provide additional information serves to reduce the patient’s radiation exposure and improve cost-effectiveness. Few studies have looked at the effectiveness of performing additional oblique views of extremities in trauma cases. De Smet and colleagues evaluated how often oblique views revealed abnormalities that were not seen on frontal or lateral views in patients who suffered trauma to extremities. The study was a prospective review of 1,461 consecutive radiographic examinations of the distal extremities in patients presenting with acute trauma in four family practice centers. The sites included the ankle, foot, toe, wrist, hand, fingers and thumb. The views included standard anteroposterior or posteroanterior, lateral, mortise and oblique views of the injured extremity. Each examination was interpreted by a radiologist and given a diagnostic certainty score using only the frontal and lateral views. Another certainty score was
