ArticleEuropean radiology2019
Suspicion of appendicitis in pregnant women: emergency evaluation by sonography and low-dose CT with oral contrast.
Article in European radiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can clinical scoring systems overcome the limitations of diagnostic methods for acute appendicitis in pregnancy?Ulusal travma ve acil cerrahi dergisi = Turkish journal of trauma & emergency surgery : TJTES · 2026Article
- Predictors of true appendicitis in pregnancy: a pathology-based 10-year cohort study.BMC surgery · 2025Article
- Accuracy of Point-of-care Ultrasound in Diagnosing Acute Appendicitis During Pregnancy.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2022Article
- Role of Ultrasound in the Assessment and Differential Diagnosis of Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Abdominal fellowship-trained versus generalist radiologist accuracy when interpreting MR and CT for the diagnosis of appendicitis.European radiology · 2022Observational
- Magnetic resonance imaging reduces the rate of unnecessary operations in pregnant patients with suspected acute appendicitis: a retrospective study.Annals of surgical treatment and research · 2021Article
- Body mass index as an indicator of the likelihood of ultrasound visualization of the appendix in pregnant women with suspicion of appendicitis.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2020Article
- Estimation of the radiation dose in pregnancy: an automated patient-specific model using convolutional neural networks.European radiology · 2019Article
- Reliability of standardized reporting system of acute appendicitis in adults at low-dose 320-rows CT.European journal of radiology open · 2019Article
- Pregnant patients requiring emergency general surgery: a scoping review of diagnostic and management strategies.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgieArticle
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate non-intravenously enhanced low-dose computed tomography with oral contrast (LDCT) for the assessment of pregnant women with right lower quadrant pain, when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not immediately available.
methodsOne hundred and thirty-eight consecutive pregnant women with acute abdominal pain were admitted in our emergency centre. Thirty-seven (27%) of them, with clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis, underwent abdominal ultrasonography (US). No further examination was recommended when US was positive for appendicitis, negative with low clinical suspicion or showed an alternative diagnosis which explained the clinical presentation. All other patients underwent LDCT (<2.5 mSv). Standard intravenously enhanced CT or MRI was performed when LDCT was indeterminate.
resultsEight (22%) of 37 US exams were reported normal, 25 (67%) indeterminate, 1 (3%) positive for appendicitis, 3 (8%) positive for an alternative diagnosis. LDCT was obtained in 29 (78%) patients. It was reported positive for appendicitis in 9 (31%), for alternative diagnosis in 2 (7%), normal in 13 (45%) and indeterminate in 5 (17%). Further imaging (standard CT or MRI) showed appendicitis in 2 of these 5 patients, was truly negative in 1, indeterminate in 1 and falsely positive in 1. An appendicitis was confirmed at surgery in 12 (32%) of the 37 patients. The sensitivity and the specificity of the algorithm for appendicitis were 100% (12/12) and 92% (23/25), respectively.
conclusionsThe proposed algorithm is very sensitive and specific for detection of acute appendicitis in pregnant women; it reduces the need of standard CTs when MRI is not available as second-line imaging. KEY POINTS: • In pregnant women, US is limited by an important number of indeterminate results • Low-dose CT can be used after an inconclusive US for the diagnosis of appendicitis in pregnant women • An algorithm integrating US and low-dose CT is highly sensitive and specific for appendicitis in pregnant women.
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