title: Appendicitis and mimicking conditions. A prospective study.
abstract: A prospective study of 444 consecutive patients diagnosed as having acute appendicitis was carried out in a district general hospital. The appendix was acutely inflamed, gangrenous, or perforated in 346 patients. Diagnostic error, 22% overall, was twice as common in females as in males. Organisms were isolated from the outer appendix wall in 117 patients, isolation increasing with the severity of inflammation. 12% of children under 11 had mesentric adenitis, 10% of all females had gynaecological lesions, and 14% of patients over 50 had acute diverticulitis. In only 6% of patients was no abnormality found at operation, and in every case the disorder was dealt with through the gridiron incision.
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis; D000208:Acute Disease; D000291:Adnexal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D003949:Diagnostic Techniques, Surgical; D005260:Female; D005734:Gangrene / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008640:Mesenteric Lymphadenitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012744:Sex Ratio