Survey of clinical and para-clinical findings in children with acute appendicitis1

Abstract

Background: The acute appendicitis is the most common surgical intervention and urgency during the pediatric age group. The most important challenge is the problem of diagnosis. The aim of this study is survey of clinical presentation, laboratory data in acute appendicitis confirmed by pathology and comparing with those who had normal pathology.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional description study on 140 children less than 16 years of age who had appendectomy at Shahid-Mobasher Kashani and Ekbatan Hospitals in Hamedan. All clinical and paraclinical data were collected by checklists and analyzed statistically by SPSS.
Results: 105 patients (75%) had pathologic findings and 35 patients (25%) had normal appendices. There were statistically significant association (P<0.05) between the frequency of appendicitis with sex, vomiting, RLQ pain, leukocytosis and shifting to left in peripheral blood smear.
Conclusion: Because of high rate of appendectomy with negative pathologic finding, in suspected cases, the proper history, frequent clinical examination, close observation, and other modalities as graded compression sonography, CT scan and laparoscopy should be considered.