New Study Stresses Need for More Accurate Tests for Acute Appendicitis

The Appendicitis Foundation stressed the significance of a recent study entitled "Systematic quantitative overviews of the literature to determine the value of diagnostic tests for predicting acute appendicitis" (authors Lucas M Bachmann,Dominique B Bischof,Stephan A Bischofberger, et al, Horten Centre, University of Zurich, Switzerland) that examined diagnostic tests for acute appendicitis, which is the most frequent cause for emergency operations in visceral surgery worldwide.

The study, published in PubMed Central, noted that 20% of all cases of acute appendicitis are misdiagnosed and this has led to unnecessary surgery that puts patients at risk. Furthermore, the study notes that such rate of misdiagnosis has been the same over the last 20 years.

The study concludes that, "Given the variation that exists in both practice and research, the uncertainty regarding the quality of the underlying evidence, there is a clear need for comprehensive, systematic and quantitative overviews of the diagnostic value of the various tests purported to be predictive of acute appendicitis."