Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. White cell count and diagnosing appendicitis in children.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether a single white cell count has clinical utility in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children. Altogether 100 papers were found using the reported search, of which four presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date, and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.