Diagnostic efficacy of ultrasonography in acute appendicitis

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is the most common acute condition of the abdomen requiring surgery in both adults 1,2 and children. 3.5 The overall frequency of appendicitis for symptomatic patients younger than 20 years is 41%; the frequency for those older than 20 years is 59%. Methods:  This was a prospective cross sectional study involving 104 patients aged between 8 and 68 years with clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis. Patients with suspected acute appendicitis were evaluated with high frequency linear transducer using graded compression technique. Peroperative findings were noted and histopathological examination were carried out in all the cases for confirmation of acute appendicitis. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, positive predictive value and accuracy of ultrasonography were calculated by using statistical method. Results: Among 104 patients (61 males and 43 females) with clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis, ultrasonography was positive for acute appendicitis in 79 patients (75.96%). On histopathological examination, 94 appendices (90.38%) were acutely inflamed. The sensitivity of ultrasonography for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis was 78.72% with specificity of 60%. Positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of ultrasonography were 94.87%, 23.07% and 76.92% respectively. Conclusion: Ultrasonography is a useful method of diagnosing clinically suspected acute appendicitis especially in doubtful cases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/joim.v34i3.8908 Journal of Institute of Medicine, December, 2012; 34:8-11