Abdominal exploration as a diagnostic procedure.

Diagnostic laparotomies performed during a five and a half year period in a 400-bed hospital were reviewed. Positive findings on physical examination, laboratory results, or x-ray findings were given one point each, making possible a range of points extending from zero to three for each patient. The number of positive laparotomies (those truly diagnostic) increased in a "linear" fashion with the point rating of each patient. No patients with a zero score had a laparotomy that was diagnostic, whereas 97 per cent of those with a score of three had positive laparotomy.