Acute appendicitis: echographic-pathological correlation in children

The clinical records of all the patients with acute abdominal pain beetween 1 and 11 years admitted at hospital in a three-year period were evaluated. Of 100 patients, a group of 75 were diagnosed of acute appendicitis by pathologic examination. The 25 remanider cases were diagnosticated of another ethiology. The ultrasound findings of 24 patients in both groups studied in this serie with a presumptive diagnosis of acute appendicitis, were reviewed in a retrospective study. Ultrasound examination was performed using graded compression and high resolution probes when acute appendicitis was suspected and the clinical history or physical examination was unclear. The ultrasound findings were correlated with the pathological findings in all cases. This procedure was useful in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis, with 84% sensibility and 100% specificity. Predictive value for positive results was 100% and 50% for negative results. These figures agree with results previously communicated in the literature. It is concluded that high resolution ultrasonography is useful in the differential diagnosis of atypical acute appendicitis in children.