Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Meta Analysis
Ultrasonography to evaluate adults for appendicitis: decision making based on meta-analysis and probabilistic reasoning.
To review ultrasonography (US) test performance and to develop recommendations for the use of US to aid in the evaluation of potential appendicitis. ⋯ 1) US should not be used to exclude appendicitis for patients who have "classic" signs/symptoms, due to the underlying high false-negative rate. 2) US is most useful for patients who have an indeterminate probability of disease after the initial evaluation--if US is positive, the patient should have an operation; otherwise, he or she should be observed. 3) US is not recommended for screening patients who have a low probability of appendicitis, due to the low prevalence of disease and high false-positive rate in this group.