Improving Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis: Results of a Diagnostic Pathway with Standard Use of Ultrasonography Followed by Selective Use of CT

Journal of the American College of Surgeons

Volumn 208, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 434-441

  Poortman, Pieter ^a   Oostvogel, Henk J M ^a   Bosma, Eelke ^a   Lohle, Paul N M ^a   Cuesta, Miguel A ^b   de Lange de Klerk, Elly S M ^b   Hamming, Jaap F ^c  

^a CPRLab   (Netherlands)

^b VU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

^c LEIDEN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACUTE APPENDICITIS; ADULT; AGED; APPENDECTOMY; ARTICLE; CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT; CONTROLLED STUDY; DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY; ECHOGRAPHY; FEMALE; HUMAN; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; MULTIDETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY;

ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; APPENDICITIS; CRITICAL PATHWAYS; HUMANS; LENGTH OF STAY; MIDDLE AGED; PREDICTIVE VALUE OF TESTS; RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE ENHANCEMENT; SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY; TOMOGRAPHY, X-RAY COMPUTED;

EID: 60149107044     PISSN: 10727515     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2008.12.003     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Birnbaum B.A., and Wilson S.R. Appendicitis at the millennium. Radiology 215 (2000) 337-348
2. Flum D.R., McClure T.D., Morris A., and Koepsell T. Misdiagnosis of appendicitis and the use of diagnostic imaging. J Am Coll Surg 201 (2005) 934-939
3. Rhea J.T., Halpern E.F., Ptak T., et al. The status of appendiceal CT in urban medical center 5 years after its introduction; experience with 753 patients. AJR Am J Roentgenol 184 (2005) 1802-1808
4. Rao P.M., Rhea J.T., Novelline R.A., et al. Effect of computed tomography of the appendix on treatment of patients and use of hospital resources. N Engl J Med 338 (1998) 141-146
5. Raman S.S., Osuagwu F.C., Kadell B., et al. Effect of CT on false positive diagnosis of appendicitis and perforation. N Engl J Med 358 (2008) 972-973
6. Perez J., Barone J.E., Wilbanks T.O., et al. Liberal use of computed tomography scanning does not improve diagnostic accuracy in appendicitis. Am J Surg 185 (2003) 194-197
7. Chiang D.T., Tan E.I., and Birks D. 'To have or not to have.' Should computed tomography and ultrasonography be implemented as a routine work-up for patients with suspected acute appendicitis in a regional hospital?. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 90 (2008) 17-21
8. Douglas C.D., Macpherson N.E., Davidson P.M., and Gani J.S. Randomised controlled trial of ultrasonography in diagnosis of acute appendicitis, incorporating the Alvarado score. BMJ 321 (2000) 919-922
9. van Randen A., Bipat S., Zwinderman A.H., et al. Acute appendicitis: meta-analysis of diagnostic performance of CT and graded compression US related to prevalence of disease. Radiology 249 (2008) 97-106
10. Doria A.S., Moineddin R., Kellenberger C.J., et al. US or CT for diagnosis of appendicitis in children and adults?. A meta-analysis. Radiology 241 (2006) 83-94
11. Puylaert J.B.C.M., Rutgers P.H., Lalisang R.I., et al. A prospective study of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of appendicitis. N Engl J Med 317 (1987) 666-669
12. Chan I., Bicknell S.G., and Graham M. Utility and diagnostic accuracy of sonography in detecting appendicitis in a community hospital. Am J Roentgenol AJR 184 (2005) 1809-1812
13. Gaitini D., Beck-Razi N., Mor-Yosef D., et al. Diagnosing acute appendicitis in adults: accuracy of color Doppler sonography and MDCT compared with surgery and clinical follow-up. Am J Roentgenol AJR 190 (2008) 1300-1306
14. Poortman P., Lohle P.N., Schoemaker C.M., et al. Comparison of CT and sonography in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis: a blinded prospective study. Am J Roentgenol AJR 181 (2003) 1355-1359
15. Keyzer C., Zalcman M., De Maertelaer V., et al. Comparison of US and unenhanced multi-detector row CT in patients suspected of having acute appendicitis. Radiology 236 (2005) 527-534
16. Kaiser S., Frenckner B., and Jorulf H.K. Radiology. Suspected appendicitis in children: US and CT-a prospective randomized study. Radiology 223 (2002) 633-638
17. van Breda Vriesman A.C., Kole B.J., and Puylaert J.B. Effect of ultrasonography and optional computed tomography on the outcome of appendectomy. Eur Radiol 13 (2003) 2278-2282
18. Rettenbacher T., Hollerweger A., Gritzmann N., et al. Appendicitis: should imaging be performed if the clinical presentation is highly suggestive for the disease?. Gastroenterology 123 (2002) 992-998
19. Lowe L.H., Penney M.W., Stein S.M., et al. Unenhanced limited CT of the abdomen in the diagnosis of appendicitis in children: comparison with sonography. Am J Roentgenol AJR 176 (2001) 31-35
20. Rettenbacher T., Hollerweger A., Macheiner P., et al. Outer diameter of the vermiform appendix as a sign of acute appendicitis: evaluation at US. Radiology 218 (2001) 757-762
21. Rioux M. Sonographic detection of the normal and abnormal appendix. Am J Roentgenol AJR 158 (1992) 773-778
22. Obermaier R., Benz S., Asgharnia M., et al. Value of ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis: interesting aspects. Eur J Med Res 8 (2003) 451-456
23. Kessler N., Cyteval C., Gallix B., et al. Appendicitis: evaluation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of US, Doppler US, and laboratory findings. Radiology 230 (2004) 472-478
24. Hof K.H., van Lankeren W., Krestin G.P., et al. Surgical validation of unenhanced helical computed tomography in acute appendicitis. Br J Surg 91 (2004) 1641-1645
25. Lautin E.M., Novick M.K., and Jean-Baptiste R. Tailored CT: primum non nocere. Br J Radiol 81 (2008) 442-443
26. Committee to Assess Health Risk from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation, and National Research Council. Health risk from exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation: BEIR VII-Phase 2 (2006), National Academies Press, Washington
27. Jones P.F. Suspected acute appendicitis: trends in management over 30 years. Br J Surg 88 (2001) 1570-1577
28. Graff L., Radford M.J., and Werne C. Probability of appendicitis before and after observation. Ann Emerg Med 20 (1991) 503-507
29. Andersson R.E. The natural history and traditional management of appendicitis revisited: spontaneous resolution and predominance of prehospital perforations imply that a correct diagnosis is more important than an early diagnosis. World J Surg 31 (2007) 86-92
30. Ekeh A.P., Wozniak C.J., Monson B., et al. Laparoscopy in the contemporary management of acute appendicitis. Am J Surg 193 (2007) 310-313
31. Teh S.H., O'Ceallaigh S., Mckeon J.G., et al. Should an appendix that looks 'normal' be removed at diagnostic laparoscopy for acute right iliac fossa pain?. Eur J Surg 166 (2000) 388-389
32. van den Broek W.T., Bijnen A.B., de Ruiter P., and Gouma D.J. A normal appendix found during diagnostic laparoscopy should not be removed. Br J Surg 88 (2001) 251-254
33. Brenner D., Elliston C., Hall E., and Berdon W. Estimated risks of radiation-induced fatal cancer from pediatric CT. Am J Roentgenol AJR 176 (2001) 289-296