Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37609681›Full record

ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2024

Appendicolith appendicitis: should we be operating sooner? A retrospective cohort study.

A G Taib, A Kler, M Prayle, D Kanakalingam, M Fani, P Asaad

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

A G TaibWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8115-1585
A KlerWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
M PrayleWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
D KanakalingamWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
M FaniWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
P AsaadWrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust · GBUniversity of Liverpool · GBUniversity of Nottingham · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionEvidence suggests that delaying an appendicectomy for up to 24 hours does not increase the risk of complicated appendicitis. Appendicoliths are a risk factor for perforation. No study has explored the temporal relationship between appendicolith presence and time to perforation. In this retrospective cohort study, we hypothesise that the presence of an appendicolith confirmed on preoperative computerised tomography scan (pCT) leads to a shorter time to complicated appendicitis.

methodsWe undertook a retrospective single-centre study of patients admitted between 2018 and 2020. Inclusion criteria included: age ≥18 years, appendicitis confirmed on histopathology following an operation and a pCT scan. Complicated appendicitis was defined intraoperatively as an appendicular abscess, gangrenous or perforated appendix.

resultsSome 310 patients were included in the study. Forty-five per cent presented with complicated appendicitis (

conclusionsPatients with an appendicolith appendicitis should be considered for an early appendicectomy. Future large-scale multicentre prospective studies are required to explore this further, perhaps informing future guidelines.

Indexed as

AppendicitisAbscessAdolescentAppendectomyGangreneHumansRetrospective StudiesAppendectomyAppendicitisHumansRetrospective studiesTomography, X-ray computer

Identifiers

PMID37609681
PMCPMC10904264
OpenAlexW4386085099

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Registered trials

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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.