6 The Value of Ultrasound in Diagnosing Acute Appendicitis

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
G Ugwu

Abstract Aim The diagnosis of acute appendicitis relies on a thorough history and examination and can often be challenging. Ultrasound is widely considered to be the most appropriate first line investigation; however non-diagnostic ultrasounds are not uncommon and do lead to delays in diagnosis and/or definitive treatment by creating a need for further clinical assessment. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound diagnosis of appendicitis in patient treated at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, and to determine the local negative appendicectomy rate. Method This was a retrospective analysis of 99 patients undergoing appendicectomy, with a prior ultrasound abdomen within one week of the procedure being undertaken. Data was collected from review of patient's hospital medical records (discharge summaries, clinic letters, PACs). Results 99 patient aged 8-76 years were studied. Male to female ratios was 3:1. The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound was 16% (95% CI - 7% to 29%) and 96% (95% CI - 86% to 99%) respectively with PPV of 80% and NPV of 52%. The accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis was found to be 55% (95% CI 44% to 65%). The negative appendicectomy rate was 48%. Conclusions From our study, ultrasound cannot reliably identify nor exclude appendicitis. Less than 16% of patients who had proven appendicitis (positive histology) had scans that indicated. Almost 50% of the normal/indeterminate scans were false negatives. Furthermore, 20% of positive ultrasound reports were false positives. A collaborative quality improvement project with the imaging department is planned to address these findings.

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 883
Author(s):  
Anuradha Dnyanmote ◽  
Sagar Ramesh Ambre ◽  
Foram Doshi ◽  
Snehal Ambre

Background: Acute appendicitis is still one of the most common surgical emergencies. This study was conducted to check the sensitivity and specificity of Total leukocyte count (TLC) and C Reactive Protein (CRP) of acute appendicitis. Aim and objectives were to check the sensitivity and specificity of total leukocyte count in diagnosis of acute appendicitis and to check the sensitivity and specificity of CRP in diagnosis of acute appendicitis. To determine TLC and CRP efficacy in diagnosis of acute appendicitis.Methods: TLC and CRP were calculated in all patients who were planned to undergo appendectomy. Appendectomies were performed independent of results of TLC and CRP levels. For statistical purpose the patients were assigned into 2 groups- Group-A Patients with inflamed/perforated/gangrenous appendix, Group-B patients with Normal appendix. The normal TLC and CRP values, raised TLC, raised CRP, and raised both TLC and CRP values calculated in each of these groups. Sensitivity and Specificity were calculated. The cut off value for TLC was 11x106/L. This value was selected arbitrarily as it corresponds to the elevated TLC. The CRP levels were calculated and cut off value was taken as 1.7mg/dl.Results: Out of 75 cases, 55 were male and 20 were female. Age ranged from 13 to 58 years. CRP was raised in 82.14% of inflamed appendix cases TLC was raised in 76.79% of inflamed appendix cases and both was raised in 92.5% of inflamed appendix cases.Conclusions: TLC and CRP are useful in diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Negative appendicectomy rate can be decreased.


Author(s):  
Ali Abdul Hussein Handoz ◽  
Ahmed Kh Alsagban

Gallstones are now among the most important disease in the era of surgery. Definitive treatment of gall stone disease remains cholecystectomy. One of the common causes of emergency surgical referral is acute cholecystitis of which 50-70% cases are seen in the elderly patients.50 patients were treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy from October 2013 to October 2015. The patient’s age was from 20 to 65 years old with a mean age of 34 ±3 years old. The patients received in the emergency unit and their attack not more than 72 hrs of acute gall stone inflammation were included in this study.From the 50 patients,15 were males (34%) and females were 35 (74%) so the ratio of 1:2of male to female. Problems and complications that facing in this study at time of laparoscopy were mainly adhesions to the adjacent structures like stomach, colon, and omentum. Adhesion into CBD also considered.Early intervention for acute cholecystitis of calculus type by laparoscopy now regarding safe and gold standard approach that should be kept in mind when dealing with such cases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S140-S140
Author(s):  
Ekta Vohra

Abstract Introduction Certified wound care nurses perform a vital role in skin health and management in the hospital setting. During the certification process, minimal time is spent on burn wound education, despite the fact that wound care nurses are consulted for various wound etiologies; one of those being burns. This construct created a need for collaboration between the burn team and wound care nurses. Although all burns are essentially wounds, the reality is that all wounds are not burns. The management of the burn wound is often different from the management of pressure injuries or surgical wounds. In speaking with the wound care nurses at this large urban academic medical center, a knowledge gap was identified in burn wound care education as well as appropriate and timely consultation of the burn team. Methods This knowledge improvement project focused on educating the wound care nurses in assessment and treatment of burns, and the process for burn service consultation. Burn education was provided through in-person didactic presentations. The lecture included burn wound photos with opportunities to classify the potential depth of burn wounds as well as typical complications. Additionally, it discussed when a burn consult is needed. A basic knowledge retrospective pre-posttest method was utilized. Results An educational plan was tailored to meet the learning needs of the wound care nurses to address the knowledge gap. Post test data results were tracked. Post scores were increased, indicating a successful educational intervention. Also, while providing the education, the burn outreach coordinator identified an opportunity to expand the burn center’s presence among colleagues through collaboration with the wound care nurses. The wound nurses made excellent ambassadors for the mission of the burn service. Conclusions Provision of burn education across disciplines may improve recognition of burn wounds and facilitate definitive treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2456
Author(s):  
Raminta Luksaite-Lukste ◽  
Ruta Kliokyte ◽  
Arturas Samuilis ◽  
Eugenijus Jasiunas ◽  
Martynas Luksta ◽  
...  

(1) Background: Diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) remains challenging; either computed tomography (CT) is universally used or negative appendectomy rates of up to 30% are reported. Transabdominal ultrasound (TUS) as the first-choice imaging modality might be useful in adult patients to reduce the need for CT scans while maintaining low negative appendectomy (NA) rates. The aim of this study was to report the results of the conditional CT strategy for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. (2) Methods: All patients suspected of acute appendicitis were prospectively registered from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018. Data on their clinical, radiological and surgical outcomes are presented. (3) Results: A total of 1855 patients were enrolled in our study: 1206 (65.0%) were women, 649 (35.0%) were men, and the median age was 34 years (IQR, 24.5–51). TUS was performed in 1851 (99.8%) patients, and CT in 463 (25.0%) patients. Appendices were not visualized on TUS in 1320 patients (71.3%). Furthermore, 172 (37.1%) of 463 CTs were diagnosed with AA, 42 (9.1%) CTs revealed alternative emergency diagnosis and 249 (53.8%) CTs were normal. Overall, 519 (28.0%) patients were diagnosed with AA: 464 appendectomies and 27 diagnostic laparoscopies were performed. The NA rate was 4.2%. The sensitivity and specificity for TUS and CT are as follows: 71.4% and 96.2%; 93.8% and 93.6%. (4) Conclusion: A conditional CT strategy is effective in reducing NA rates and avoids unnecessary CT in a large proportion of patients. Observation and repeated TUS might be useful in unclear cases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Lee ◽  
A MacLeod ◽  
A Bradley

Abstract Introduction Accurate patient documentation at the ARU is vital to patient safety and ensuring smooth handovers to secondary care services. Because the nature of surgical treatment requires frequent patient handovers, and this increases the risk of miscommunication, we aimed to assess the quality of surgical clerk-ins and identify areas for improvement. Method Emergency admissions at the Dumfries Galloway Royal Infirmary were audited, looking at documentation quality under various clerk-in sections. Data was analysed before presentation to clinical governance. Results When 46 patient clerk-ins were examined, venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis plans were performed in only 24% of admissions - less than 1 in 4 patients. Comparing out-of-hours and in-hours patient documentation, much higher omission rates were identified in the out-of-hours documentation: in systemic enquiry (42 vs 100%) and family history (31% vs 66%). Conclusions These results brought to attention the effect of hospital admission timing on patient documentation quality, and the lack of VTE prophylaxis planning. In surgery, these plans are key to minimising risk of avoidable thromboembolic complications. A departmental meeting was convened to stress the importance of accurate and comprehensive clerk-ins to ARU doctors. Future audits could explore the factors influencing documentation quality for out-of-hours admissions, and ways to address these issues.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carry Zheng ◽  
Shiela Lee ◽  
Steven Brown ◽  
Venkat Kanakala

Abstract Aims To evaluate the effectiveness of using a clinical prediction tool in the management of suspected acute appendicitis Methods Retrospective data was collected on patients undergoing appendicectomy at a single tertiary centre from November 2019 to June 2020. Inclusion criteria were all patients aged 18 and above undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy for suspected appendicitis. Exclusion criteria were all patients that had a pathological finding other than appendicitis at laparoscopy. The pre operative AAS score at first presentation was calculated and patients grouped into low(0-10), intermediate(11-15), and high(16 and above) risk. These groups were then compared to the histological findings. Results A total of 74 patients were included, 44 male and 30 female. The age range was from 18 to 83, with a median age of 36. Of 10 patients in the low risk group, 4 (40%) had appendicitis on histology. 36 out of 40 (90%) patients in the intermediate risk group had appendicitis and 100% of the 24 patients in the high risk group. Pearson’s coefficient showed a significant correlation between the AAS risk (low, intermediate, and high) and the histological diagnosis of appendicitis (r = 0.48, p = 0.000016). Conclusions Our study did show a positive correlation between the AAS risk stratification and histological diagnosis. Based on our findings we would recommend the adoption of this score in assessing patients with suspected acute appendicitis and minimising the negative appendicectomy rate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Gulnaz ◽  
Sadia Tasleem ◽  
Farooq Abdullah

Abstract Traditionally acute appendicitis has been a clinical diagnosis based on patients' history and physical examination, but the accuracy of clinical diagnosis ranges from 70-95%. Pre-operative diagnosis of acute appendicitis still remains an enigmatic challenge, because no single test alone can reduce the rate of negative appendectomy. Hence some authors have recommended a combination of two or more investigations to increase accuracy and therefore the use of imaging is gaining support. The objective of the study was to determine the clinical accuracy of ultrasound, combined with inflammatory markers such as CRP, WBC, and neutrophilia keeping histopathology as the gold standard. Methods The study was conducted in a Tertiary care hospital in Peshawar from September 2014 to March 2015 on 250 patients who were clinically diagnosed with acute appendicitis. All these patients underwent u/sound scanning in addition to blood tests. Findings In this study, WBC had the highest sensitivity (77.68%) followed by neutrophil% (69.96%), CRP(67.10%), and U/Sound (62.96%) respectively. While U/Sound had the highest specificity (70.59%) followed by CRP and TLC (64.71% each) and neutrophil% (58.82%) respectively. When all the four tests were combined the sensitivity, specificity, (99.17% and 98.45%) increased significantly. When all four tests were negative, appendicitis could be safely ruled out. Conclusion Acute appendicitis is very unlikely and surgery can be safely deferred in these patients when all tests are negative thereby reducing the negative appendicectomy rates. 


Author(s):  
NG Mowbray ◽  
L Hurt ◽  
A Powell-Chandler ◽  
N Reeves ◽  
S Chandler ◽  
...  

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic stimulated a national lockdown in the UK. The public were advised to avoid unnecessary hospital attendances and health professionals were advised to avoid aerosol-generating procedures wherever possible. The authors hypothesised that these measures would result in a reduction in the number of patients presenting to hospital with acute appendicitis and alter treatment choices. Methods A multicentred, prospective observational study was undertaken during April 2020 to identify adults treated for acute appendicitis. Searches of operative and radiological records were performed to identify patients treated during April 2018 and April 2019 for comparison. Results A total of 190 patients were treated for acute appendicitis pre-lockdown compared with 64 patients treated during lockdown. Patients treated during the pandemic were more likely to have a higher American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score (p = 0.049) and to have delayed their presentation to hospital (2 versus 3 days, p = 0.03). During the lockdown, the use of computed tomography (CT) increased from 36.3% to 85.9% (p < 0.001), the use of an antibiotic-only approach increased from 6.2% to 40.6% (p < 0.001) and the rate of laparoscopic appendicectomy reduced from 85.3% to 17.2% (p < 0.001). The negative appendicectomy rate decreased from 21.7% to 7.1% during lockdown (p < 0.001). Conclusions The COVID-19 lockdown was associated with a decreased incidence of acute appendicitis and a significant shift in the management approach. The increased use of CT allows the identification of simple appendicitis for conservative treatment and decreases the negative appendicectomy rate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. e26-e26
Author(s):  
Azar Baradaran ◽  
Azar Naimi ◽  
Elahe Pirpiran ◽  
Masoud Akhlaghi

Introduction: Acute appendicitis in children is the most common acute surgical condition in children. Each year, 80000 children in the United States suffer from appendicitis. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate diagnostic value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in younger and older pediatrics suspect of acute appendicitis in Imam Hossein hospital. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at Imam Hossein hospital from 2015-2017. The study population was all children with suspected appendicitis who refer to Imam Hossein medical center in Isfahan. The sample size was 423 people. The collected data were imported into SPSS software version 22 and analyzed with appropriate statistical tests. The significance level in the present study was less than 0.05. Results: The average age of participants was 7.2 ± 3.8 years. In both study groups, it was observed that the mean NLR in the normal and reactive follicular groups was significantly lower than the appendicitis and complication groups (P<0.05). The results of the present study showed that NLR diagnostic test can be a good predictor for the evaluation of appendicitis in both groups under 4 years and over 4 years. For more than 4 years’ group; AUC=0.74, P<0.001 and for less than 4 years’ group; AUC=0.69, P<0.001. For less than 4 years’ group, the cut-off score for appendicitis diagnosis was 2.3. In this cut-off, the sensitivity and specificity were equal to 0.65% and 0.72%. Additionally, for more than 4 years’ group, the cut-off for the diagnosis of appendix was 3.5. In this cut-off, the sensitivity and specificity were equal to 0.73% and 67%. Conclusion: This analysis demonstrates that NLR, in the context of appropriate clinical assessment of patients with a high a priori probability of appendicitis, has a greater diagnostic accuracy in supporting the diagnosis of appendicitis.


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