Diagnostic Value and Effect of Bedside Ultrasound in Acute Appendicitis in the Emergency Department.
Early and accurate diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) with ultrasound (US) can minimize the morbidity and mortality of the patients. In this regard, US can help emergency physicians (EPs) in the diagnosing process and clinical decision making for AA. Therefore, we primarily aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of point-of-care US (POCUS) in clinical decision making of EPs for the diagnostic evaluation for AA in the emergency department (ED).



The study sample consisted of patients aged > 18 years who presented to the ED with abdominal pain and underwent diagnostic evaluation for AA. All patients were examined initially with POCUS by EPs and then with radiology-performed US (RADUS) by radiologists. Pre- and post-POCUS median diagnostic certainty values (MDCVs) for AA were determined with visual analog scale (VAS) scores (0 = not present, 100 = certainly present) by POCUS performers. Definitive diagnoses were determined by surgery, pathologic evaluation of appendectomy specimens, or clinical follow-up results. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) for POCUS and RADUS together with pre- and post-POCUS VAS scores for MDCVs were compared.



A total of 264 patients were included into the final analysis and 169 (64%) had a diagnosis of AA. The sensitivity, specificity, PLR, and NLR of US examinations were 92.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 87.2%-95.8%), 95.8% (89.5%-98.8%), 21.9 (8.4-57.2), and 0.08 (0.05-0.1) for POCUS and 76.9% (69.8-83%), 97.8% (84.9-99.7%), 36.4 (9.25-144.3), and 0.24 (0.18-0.31) for RADUS, respectively. Pre-POCUS and post-POCUS VAS scores for MDCVs were 60 (interquartile range [IQR] = 50-65) and 95 (IQR = 20-98), respectively (p = 0.000).



Point-of-care ultrasonography, when performed in ED for the diagnosis of AA, has high sensitivity and specificity and had a positive impact on the clinical decision making of EPs.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Faruk
F
Gungor
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Taylan
T
Kilic
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Kamil Can
KC
Akyol
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Gizem
G
Ayaz
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Umut Cengiz
UC
Cakir
Department of Emergency Medicine, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.
Mehmet
M
Akcimen
Department of Emergency Medicine, Akdeniz University Medical Faculty, Antalya, Turkey.
Cenker
C
Eken
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult