COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY VERSUS COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN SUBJECTS WITH ACUTE APPENDICITIS IN THE INDIAN SETUP

Abstract

Background: An acute episode of appendicitis is the most frequent cause of abdominal surgery in India. Ultrasonography is a commonly used method for the safe assessment of appendicitis; nevertheless, it is not easy to conduct on large patients and requires an operator. Compared to ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT) scans have a nearly 95% accuracy rate.

Aim: In an Indian setting, this study sought to evaluate the relative effectiveness of computed tomography and ultrasonography in treating patients with acute appendicitis.

Methods: 115 patients who had a suspicion of acute appendicitis were evaluated for the current research. At first, Alvarado scores were used to diagnose acute appendicitis. The next procedure was abdominal ultrasonography. A CT scan with oral contrast was performed on participants whose ultrasonography results were uncertain or negative. Expert radiologists reevaluated the CT and ultrasonography data, and a comparison with the outcomes of surgery and pathology  was  established.  Additionally,  two  groups  were  used  for  the  comparison. Results: In participants with minimal clinical suspicion, the negative predictive value, positive predictive value, specificity, and sensitivity of CT scans were, respectively, 79.5%, 94.6%, 87.7%, and 81.6% based on the pathology results. Based on pathology results, the ultrasonography's negative predictive value, positive predictive value, specificity, and sensitivity were, in people with minimal clinical suspicion, 67.8%, 94.3%, 74.7%, and 63.2%, respectively.

Conclusion: The current study finds that in patients with acute appendicitis, CT scan has a high sensitivity and specificity compared to abdominal ultrasonography.