title: [Diagnostic values of pressure aggravation test and breath aggravation test in the early acute appendicitis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the applied value of the pressure aggravation test and breath aggravation test in the diagnosis of early acute appendicitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 101 cases with epigastralgia, middle or upper abdomen pain, disease duration within 6 hours undergoing pressure aggravation test and breath aggravation test respectively in our hospital between October 2010 and December 2012 were prospectively enrolled. By comparing with the postoperative pathological diagnosis (early acute appendicitis and other abdominal pain), the sensitivity and specificity of these two tests were calculated. Through analyzing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the diagnostic value of early acute appendicitis was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-two cases of early acute appendicitis and 49 cases of other abdominal pain were diagnosed by postoperative pathologic results. The sensitivity and specificity of the pressure aggravation test were 87.5% and 72.1% and of the breath aggravation test were 53.8% and 83.7% respectively. The area under the ROC curve of the pressure aggravation test was 0.786 (95% CI: 0.693-0.878), similar to that of the breath aggravation test (0.688, 95% CI: 0.583-0.792).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pressure aggravation test has higher value to diagnose early acute appendicitis, while the breath aggravation test has better specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China. jdfsyy@163.com.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Qingshan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Xuejun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.forename: Ka Wai
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Cunchuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain; D000208:Acute Disease; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001944:Breath Tests; D006801:Humans; D011312:Pressure; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity