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Routine Antenatal Diagnostic Imaging With Ultrasound (RADIUS) Study-Reply
Louise Acheson, MD, MS
Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio
Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(6):489-490.
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In reply
Far from resolving it, the RADIUS study has added substance to the controversy over the uses of ultrasound examination in pregnancy. Dr Smith objects to the term "screening" and raises concerns that the group of pregnant women studied were healthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and better educated than the general population. It is precisely in this group of healthy pregnant women without any apparent medical indication for fetal imaging that ultrasound examination is a screening test. Conclusions from the RADIUS study apply only to screening and not to the large group of pregnant women (60% of pregnancies in the RADIUS practices) with one of the many standard indications for ultrasound examination. This group of women will include more women with obstetrical risk factors and disadvantaged women compared with the general population. For those with indications, ultrasonography is likely to be beneficial.
I take issue with the idea that sonographic imaging
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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