The demise of the plain Kidney Ureter Bladder Xray may have been slightly exaggerated

The retrospective review 1 of imaging practice for potential ureteric colic recommends ditching the traditional plain X-ray kidneys, ureter and bladder (KUB) for routine CT KUB. It could be argued that, in developed countries, the ‘ dogma ’ is mostly ignored anyway. Many presentations in emergency departments (ED) end up with a CT even if representing within a short time. This paper only details cases where stones were confirmed, with previous work showing that only about two thirds of suspected colic actually have any stone. 2 The concern then becomes unnecessary radiation exposure with the attendant risks. 3 The length of stay issues mentioned in the paper are to do with the organisation ’ s own protocols rather than the mode of imaging and can easily be overcome with modifi-cation of the protocols.