BACKGROUND: Abdominal pain is the common reason patients seek treatment in emergency departments (ED), and computed tomography (CT) is frequently used for diagnosis; however, length of stay (LOS) in the ED and risks of radiation remain a concern. The hypothesis of this study was the Alvarado score (AS) could be used to reduce CT scans and decrease ED LOS for patients with suspected acute appendicitis (AA). METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent CT to rule out AA from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, was performed. Patient demographics, medical history, ED documentation, operative interventions, complications, and LOS were all collected. Alvarado score was calculated from the medical record. Time to CT completion was calculated from times the patient was seen by ED staff, CT order, and CT report. RESULTS: Four hundred ninety-two patients (68.1% female; median age, 33 years) met the inclusion criteria. Most CT scans (70%) did not have findings consistent with AA. Median AS for AA on CT scan was 7, compared with 3 for negative CT (p < 0.001). One hundred percent of female patients with AS of 10 and males with AS of 9 or greater had AA confirmed by surgical pathology. Conversely, 5% or less of female patients with AS of 2 or less and 0% of male patients with AS of 1 or less were diagnosed with AA. One hundred six (21.5%) patients had an AS within these ranges and collectively spent 10,239 minutes in the ED from the time of the CT order until the radiologist's report. CONCLUSION: Males with an AS of 9 or greater and females with AS of 10 should be considered for treatment of AA without imaging. Males with AS of 1 or less and females with AS of 2 or less can be safely discharged with follow-up. Using AS, a significant proportion of patients can avoid the radiation risk, the increased cost, and increased ED LOS associated with CT. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic IV, therapeutic IV.
BACKGROUND:Abdominal pain is the common reason patients seek treatment in emergency departments (ED), and computed tomography (CT) is frequently used for diagnosis; however, length of stay (LOS) in the ED and risks of radiation remain a concern. The hypothesis of this study was the Alvarado score (AS) could be used to reduce CT scans and decrease ED LOS for patients with suspected acute appendicitis (AA). METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent CT to rule out AA from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, was performed. Patient demographics, medical history, ED documentation, operative interventions, complications, and LOS were all collected. Alvarado score was calculated from the medical record. Time to CT completion was calculated from times the patient was seen by ED staff, CT order, and CT report. RESULTS: Four hundred ninety-two patients (68.1% female; median age, 33 years) met the inclusion criteria. Most CT scans (70%) did not have findings consistent with AA. Median AS for AA on CT scan was 7, compared with 3 for negative CT (p < 0.001). One hundred percent of female patients with AS of 10 and males with AS of 9 or greater had AA confirmed by surgical pathology. Conversely, 5% or less of female patients with AS of 2 or less and 0% of male patients with AS of 1 or less were diagnosed with AA. One hundred six (21.5%) patients had an AS within these ranges and collectively spent 10,239 minutes in the ED from the time of the CT order until the radiologist's report. CONCLUSION: Males with an AS of 9 or greater and females with AS of 10 should be considered for treatment of AA without imaging. Males with AS of 1 or less and females with AS of 2 or less can be safely discharged with follow-up. Using AS, a significant proportion of patients can avoid the radiation risk, the increased cost, and increased ED LOS associated with CT. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic IV, therapeutic IV.
Authors: Salomone Di Saverio; Mauro Podda; Belinda De Simone; Marco Ceresoli; Goran Augustin; Alice Gori; Marja Boermeester; Massimo Sartelli; Federico Coccolini; Antonio Tarasconi; Nicola De' Angelis; Dieter G Weber; Matti Tolonen; Arianna Birindelli; Walter Biffl; Ernest E Moore; Michael Kelly; Kjetil Soreide; Jeffry Kashuk; Richard Ten Broek; Carlos Augusto Gomes; Michael Sugrue; Richard Justin Davies; Dimitrios Damaskos; Ari Leppäniemi; Andrew Kirkpatrick; Andrew B Peitzman; Gustavo P Fraga; Ronald V Maier; Raul Coimbra; Massimo Chiarugi; Gabriele Sganga; Adolfo Pisanu; Gian Luigi De' Angelis; Edward Tan; Harry Van Goor; Francesco Pata; Isidoro Di Carlo; Osvaldo Chiara; Andrey Litvin; Fabio C Campanile; Boris Sakakushev; Gia Tomadze; Zaza Demetrashvili; Rifat Latifi; Fakri Abu-Zidan; Oreste Romeo; Helmut Segovia-Lohse; Gianluca Baiocchi; David Costa; Sandro Rizoli; Zsolt J Balogh; Cino Bendinelli; Thomas Scalea; Rao Ivatury; George Velmahos; Roland Andersson; Yoram Kluger; Luca Ansaloni; Fausto Catena Journal: World J Emerg Surg Date: 2020-04-15 Impact factor: 5.469
Authors: Massimo Sartelli; Federico Coccolini; Yoram Kluger; Ervis Agastra; Fikri M Abu-Zidan; Ashraf El Sayed Abbas; Luca Ansaloni; Abdulrashid Kayode Adesunkanmi; Boyko Atanasov; Goran Augustin; Miklosh Bala; Oussama Baraket; Suman Baral; Walter L Biffl; Marja A Boermeester; Marco Ceresoli; Elisabetta Cerutti; Osvaldo Chiara; Enrico Cicuttin; Massimo Chiarugi; Raul Coimbra; Elif Colak; Daniela Corsi; Francesco Cortese; Yunfeng Cui; Dimitris Damaskos; Nicola De' Angelis; Samir Delibegovic; Zaza Demetrashvili; Belinda De Simone; Stijn W de Jonge; Sameer Dhingra; Stefano Di Bella; Francesco Di Marzo; Salomone Di Saverio; Agron Dogjani; Therese M Duane; Mushira Abdulaziz Enani; Paola Fugazzola; Joseph M Galante; Mahir Gachabayov; Wagih Ghnnam; George Gkiokas; Carlos Augusto Gomes; Ewen A Griffiths; Timothy C Hardcastle; Andreas Hecker; Torsten Herzog; Syed Mohammad Umar Kabir; Aleksandar Karamarkovic; Vladimir Khokha; Peter K Kim; Jae Il Kim; Andrew W Kirkpatrick; Victor Kong; Renol M Koshy; Igor A Kryvoruchko; Kenji Inaba; Arda Isik; Katia Iskandar; Rao Ivatury; Francesco M Labricciosa; Yeong Yeh Lee; Ari Leppäniemi; Andrey Litvin; Davide Luppi; Gustavo M Machain; Ronald V Maier; Athanasios Marinis; Cristina Marmorale; Sanjay Marwah; Cristian Mesina; Ernest E Moore; Frederick A Moore; Ionut Negoi; Iyiade Olaoye; Carlos A Ordoñez; Mouaqit Ouadii; Andrew B Peitzman; Gennaro Perrone; Manos Pikoulis; Tadeja Pintar; Giuseppe Pipitone; Mauro Podda; Kemal Raşa; Julival Ribeiro; Gabriel Rodrigues; Ines Rubio-Perez; Ibrahima Sall; Norio Sato; Robert G Sawyer; Helmut Segovia Lohse; Gabriele Sganga; Vishal G Shelat; Ian Stephens; Michael Sugrue; Antonio Tarasconi; Joel Noutakdie Tochie; Matti Tolonen; Gia Tomadze; Jan Ulrych; Andras Vereczkei; Bruno Viaggi; Chiara Gurioli; Claudio Casella; Leonardo Pagani; Gian Luca Baiocchi; Fausto Catena Journal: World J Emerg Surg Date: 2021-09-25 Impact factor: 5.469