The influence of advanced radiographic imaging on the treatment of pediatric appendicitis
Section snippets
Materials and methods
A retrospective review of medical records of 197 consecutive children with a preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis from January 2002 through May 2004 was completed following institutional review board approval. Demographic data including sex, age, and insurance status were collected as well as variables corresponding to preoperative evaluation, management, and postoperative outcomes. Variables included white blood cell (WBC) count, highest preoperative temperature, preoperative imaging
Results
From January 2002 through May 2004, there were 197 pediatric appendectomies performed for a preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis. The mean age for the group was 10.5 years (range, 2-17 years). There were 75 females (38%) and 122 males (62%).
Imaging studies were performed in 106 (54%) patients (group A) (Table 1). Ninety-one (46%) patients did not receive an imaging study (group B). There was no significant difference in the sex of the patient with regard to who received an imaging
Discussion
The use of advanced imaging studies for the diagnosis of suspected acute appendicitis in children appears to be routine in some institutions, although others argue for its use only in selective cases, mostly using it in females and equivocal cases [6], [7], [8], [12], [13]. In a recent survey of 344 members of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, 19.8% of respondents report the frequent use of imaging (>67% of cases) for the preoperative evaluation of appendicitis [14]. Although US was
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Gary Koch, PhD, for statistical analysis assistance. DY thanks the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health for a short-term research training grant.
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Cited by (0)
Presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Association of Pediatric Surgeons, May 22-26, 2005, Vancouver, Canada.