ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2023
Routine ultrasound for suspected appendicitis in children: a single-centre retrospective cohort study.
Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Prospective Model for Detecting Missed Appendicitis in Low-Risk Pediatric Patients.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Risk Factors for False-Positive Ultrasound in Pediatric Acute Appendicitis: A Prospective Cohort Study.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- The Impact of Body Mass Index and Presenting Institution on Diagnostic Imaging for Children Undergoing Appendectomy.Pediatric surgery international · 2026Article
- Article
- NETworking for Health and in Disease: Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Pediatric Surgical Care.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAppendicitis continues to be a common surgical emergency in children, but its diagnosis remains challenging. Use of diagnostic imaging to confirm appendicitis has gained popularity in some countries because it is associated with lower negative appendicectomy rates. This study reports our centre's experience of adopting routine ultrasound for the investigation of suspected appendicitis in children.
methodsA single-centre retrospective cohort study was performed investigating all children aged 5-16 years admitted under surgeons with suspected appendicitis, in January-December 2019. Primary outcomes were the rate of ultrasound use, its accuracy in diagnosing/excluding appendicitis and negative appendicectomy rate. Other outcomes were treatment received, length of stay and complications.
resultsThe majority of the 193 children with suspected appendicitis underwent a diagnostic ultrasound (87.5%). Ultrasound was highly sensitive (0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81-0.96) and specific (1.0, 95% CI 0.96-1.0) for appendicitis in this study. Negative appendicectomy rate was extremely low (1.4%). Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the preferred management (75/86), with one case started open and no conversions to open. A minority of cases of simple appendicitis (10/86) were treated primarily with antibiotics. Rates of complex appendicitis and postoperative complications were similar to other studies.
conclusionUltrasound can be highly sensitive and specific for appendicitis. Its routine use to confirm appendicitis prior to surgery is associated with a low negative appendicectomy rate. This is a major change in practice for a general surgical unit in the United Kingdom.
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