SynthesisWorld journal of surgery2017
Diagnostic Accuracy of Abdominal Ultrasound for Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in World journal of surgery, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rapid MRI Abdomen for Assessment of Clinically Suspected Acute Appendicitis in the General Adult Population: a Systematic Review.Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Abdominal Ultrasound and Its Diagnostic Accuracy in Diagnosing Acute Appendicitis: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in surgery · 2021Pooled it
- Adherence to the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) 2015 Guidelines in Acute Point-of-Care Ultrasound Research.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- Validation of the Appendicitis Inflammatory Response (AIR) Score.World journal of surgery · 2021Trial
- Randomized control trial comparing an Alvarado Score-based management algorithm and current best practice in the evaluation of suspected appendicitis.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2020Trial
- Assessment of Acute Appendicitis in Pregnant Women: A Systematic Review of Current Evidence.Cureus · 2026Review
- Evaluating the Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasound and Clinical Predictors in Pediatric Acute Tip Appendicitis:Saudi medical journal · 2026Article
- Validation of Pediatric Appendicitis Score in Suspected Acute Appendicitis.Indian pediatrics · 2026Article
- Reduced recurrence rate with a targeted approach in uncomplicated appendicitis treated with endoscopic directWorld journal of gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Role of immature granulocyte and blood biomarkers in predicting perforated acute appendicitis using machine learning model.World journal of clinical cases · 2025Article
- Assessing the Efficacy of Ultrasound Imaging for Diagnosing Appendicitis in Male Patients: A Retrospective Study.Cureus · 2025Article
- Current usage and diagnostic performance of cross-sectional imaging in patients with suspected acute appendicitis: a national survey in China.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2025Article
- Utility of point of care viscoelastic haemostatic assays for trauma patients in the emergency department.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Evidence-based, cost-effective management of acute appendicitis: An algorithm of the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery emergency general surgery algorithms work group.The journal of trauma and acute care surgery · 2025Article
- Open-Access 12-Minute MRI Screening for Acute Appendicitis: A Five-Year Retrospective Observational Study of Diagnostic Accuracy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Development and validation of a new scoring system to discriminate between uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Risk Factors Associated With Negative Appendicectomy Rates: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of abdominal ultrasound (US) for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA), in terms of sensitivity, specificity and post-test probabilities for positive and negative result.
methodsA systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane library and Science Citation Index Expanded from January 1994 to October 2014 was performed. Two authors independently evaluated studies for inclusion, extracted data and performed analyses. The reference standard for evaluation of final diagnosis was pathohistological report on tissue obtained at appendectomy. Summary sensitivity, specificity and post-test probability of AA after positive and negative result of US with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.
resultsOut of 3306 references identified through electronic searches, 17 reports met the inclusion criteria, with 2841 included participants. The summary sensitivity and specificity of US for diagnosis of AA were 69% (95% CI 59-78%) and 81% (95% CI 73-88%), respectively. At the median pretest probability of AA of 76.4%, the post-test probability for a positive and negative result of US was 92% (95% CI 88-95%) and 55% (95% CI 46-63%), respectively.
conclusionsAbdominal ultrasound does not seem to have a role in the diagnostic pathway for diagnosis of AA in suspected patients. The summary sensitivity and specificity of US do not exceed that of physical examination. Patients that require additional diagnostic workup should be referred to more sensitive and specific diagnostic procedures, such as computed tomography.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.