Is ultrasound screening for urinary tract infection "cost effective"?

We prospectively followed 110 patients for 1 year who underwent initial imaging evaluation of the upper urinary tract for infection, monitoring both clinical efficacy and cost. Eighty-seven of the patients had ultrasound studies and 23 had excretory urograms. In our experience, ultrasound screening did not increase the utilization of other upper urinary tract imaging procedures although patient costs were increased solely because of the greater charge for ultrasound relative to excretory urography at our institution.