title: Harms of CT scanning prior to surgery for suspected appendicitis.
abstract: In this brief analysis we compare the risks and benefits of performing a CT scan to confirm appendicitis prior to surgery instead of operating based on the surgeon's clinical diagnosis. We conclude that the benefit of universal imaging is to avoid 12 unnecessary appendectomies but the cost of those 12 avoided surgeries is one cancer death due to the imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington DC, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington DC, USA.
authors.forename: Naudereh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Noori
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001062:Appendectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality