Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy of Computed Tomography for Acute Appendicitis

Abstract

Background: Acute appendicitis is considered one of the primary reasons for abdominal pain and needs emergency treatment. In the United States, every year, 250,000 cases of appendicitis are reported. All around the world, this condition on sights demands surgical interventions. To avoid unnecessary laparotomies, screen imaging is an important method to diagnose the cases. Computed tomography is supposed as one of the best tools for examining the pelvic, abdominal area. With its high sensitivity and specificity, different hospitals used this method of diagnosed acute appendicitis cases. This study aims to analyze the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography and correlation with Alvarado score for acute appendicitis.

Method: This comparative descriptive study was conducted in histological Department of Khyber medical University Peshawar within duration of two years. Total 320 patients were selected who underwent through 16 slices multi detector scanner was used for the abdominal CT. With the lowest exposure, 3-dimensional images with 5mm slice thickness were obtained.

Results: We observed 85.4% sensitivity and 65.0% specificity with 2.4411PLR and 0.224 NLR in the Alvarado score. At the same time, sensitivity and specificity of CT were relatively good 94.2, 90, respectively, with 9.4175 PLR and 0.0647 NLR.

Conclusion: In patients with low Alvarado score, Computed tomography is a reasonable solution for the identification of specific or alternative diagnoses among them