Appendicitis—Current Practices in a Tertiary Referral Center

Failing to diagnose appendicitis can lead to significant morbidity and mortality secondary to appendiceal rupture and subsequent complications. [...]clinical practice has been to err on the side of over diagnosis of appendicitis and resultant negative appendectomy rates of 25 to 40 per cent have bee...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American surgeon 2016-02, Vol.82 (2), p.45-46
Main Authors: Soder, Brent L., Dart, Benjamin W., Stanley, J. Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anorexia
Appendectomy - statistics & numerical data
Appendectomy - utilization
Appendicitis
Appendicitis - diagnosis
Appendicitis - diagnostic imaging
Appendicitis - surgery
Cancer
Clinical medicine
False Positive Reactions
Female
Humans
Laboratories
Laparoscopy
Male
Medical imaging
Middle Aged
Mortality
Pain
Pediatrics
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data
Retrospective Studies
Sensitivity and Specificity
Statistical analysis
Studies
Tennessee
Tertiary Care Centers - statistics & numerical data
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - statistics & numerical data
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - utilization
Ultrasonic imaging
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Failing to diagnose appendicitis can lead to significant morbidity and mortality secondary to appendiceal rupture and subsequent complications. [...]clinical practice has been to err on the side of over diagnosis of appendicitis and resultant negative appendectomy rates of 25 to 40 per cent have been accepted historically. Various studies show the rate of preoperative CT in the diagnosis of appendicitis ranges from 33 to 93 per cent.1, 2 Preoperative CT decreases the negative appendectomy rate in some studies, whereas other studies fail to demonstrate a significant difference.1, 2 Meanwhile, the use of ionizing radiation comes with a lifetime attributable risk of radiation-induced cancer.3 Therefore, the question of which patient needs a CT scan in the diagnosis of appendicitis and which patient should proceed directly to appendectomy without CT scan, remains a topic of ongoing debate.
ISSN:0003-1348
1555-9823
DOI:10.1177/000313481608200204