• Am J Emerg Med · Aug 2015

    Observational Study

    Recognizing acute appendicitis criteria on abdominal computed tomography: do emergency physicians need a preliminary report?

    • Onder Limon, Deniz Oray, Cem Ertan, Erkan Sahin, and Aslı Aydınoğlu Ugurhan.
    • Izmir University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, İzmir Üniversitesi Medical Park Hastanesi, Yeni Girne Blv. 1825 Sk. No: 12 Karşıyaka, 35530 İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: dronderlimon@yahoo.com.
    • Am J Emerg Med. 2015 Aug 1;33(8):1002-5.

    BackgroundComputed tomography (CT) is invaluable for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) in the emergency setting when used appropriately with proper risk stratification. The aim of this study is to investigate the capability and accuracy of emergency physicians (EPs) at recognizing AA criteria in intravenous contrast-enhanced abdominal CT and to investigate the level of interobserver agreement among them.MethodsConsecutive patients who presented to İzmir University Hospital from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014, were evaluated. Patients with histopathologically confirmed AA and had intravenous contrast-enhanced abdominal CT were enrolled. Abdominal CT were interpreted by 4 EPs in a blind fashion. To compare differences in performances between observers, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and κ values were calculated. The results were then compared with the radiology department's official reports.ResultsThere were 48 patients eligible for the study. Among these patients, 19 were male (41%), with a mean age of 34.4 years (±11.3 years). Five patients were CT-negative appendicitis according to official radiology reports that were accepted as the criterion standard. The best sensitivity and negative predictive values were achieved at criterion "enlargement of the appendix," whereas the least sensitivity was for criterion "lack of opacification in an enlarged appendix."ConclusionsThe recognition of the CT criteria for AA among EPs is substantial at best, and their ability to recognize the primary criteria for diagnosing AA is good. Emergency physicians have to gain a higher level of expertise to use this invaluable diagnostic tool more efficiently.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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