ACCURACY OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS; RESUTS A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY AT TWO CENTRES

Accuracy of Ultrasonography in Acute Appendicitis

Abstract

Objective: To  determine  the  accuracy  of  ultrasonography  in  diagnosing  acute  appendicitis  (AA) by  taking histopathology as gold standard.
Study Design:A cross-sectional validation study.
Place and Duration of Study: Departments of surgery and radiology, Combined Military Hospitals of Multan and Quetta,from Apr 2014 to Apr 2016.
Materialand Methods: Ultrasonography of 200 consecutive patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria on Modified Alvarado  Scoring  System  for  the  clinical  diagnosis  of  AA  was  done  and  the  results  were  entered  in  proformas. Each patient underwent appendicectomy and appendices in all cases were sent for histopathological examination.Sensitivity,  specificity,  positive  predictive  value  (PPV),  negative  predictive  value  (NPV),  and  accuracy  were calculated through Med Calc.
Results: Out  of  200  patients,  132  were  males  and  68  were  females.  The  most  common  age  group  was  11-30 years.  The  sensitivity  of  ultrasonography  for  AA  was  61.43%,  with  a  specificity  of  76.67%,  PPV  of  86%,  NPV  of 46%,and an accuracy rate of 66%.
Conclusion: With  sensitivity,  specificity,  and  accuracy  rate  of  61.4%,76.7%,  and  66%  respectively,  ultrasono-graphy  is  justified  as  an  appropriate  diagnostic  tool  in  suspected  cases  of  AA  to  avoid  undue  surgical interventions.