Evidence on Post-Treatment Imaging and Follow-Up Consultations
We identified two systematic reviews of retrospective studies (one with meta-analysis)78,83, two RCTs82,84, three cohort studies (one prospective)42,52,58 and 32 case series31,33,34,36,41,43-50,56,57,60-64,66,68-72,74-77,85,89,90evaluating routine post-treatment imaging and follow-up consultations.
Most case series on post-treatment follow-up (Table 4) showed that ≤ 5.0% of patients with a fracture of the clavicle, upper or lower extremities required a change from non-operative to operative management or had complications based on routine X-ray findings. However, a few studies conducted in the context of radius shaft or head and/or neck fractures as well as metacarpal fractures observed changes in management for 10% to 32% of patients based on such findings.49,64 Two RCTs showed no difference in functional recovery of patients with routine follow-up imaging or consultation for distal radius82 or ankle84 fracture compared to those with selective approaches.