Thursday, June 12, 2014

The choosing wisely list in neurology

There's one on the list that got my attention. I see it done pretty often:

Don’t perform imaging of the carotid arteries for simple syncope without other neurologic symptoms.
Occlusive carotid artery disease does not cause fainting but rather causes focal neurologic deficits such as unilateral weakness. Thus, carotid imaging will not identify the cause of the fainting and increases cost. Fainting is a frequent complaint, affecting 40% of people during their lifetime.

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