Keywords:
Acute, Surgery, Radiation effects, Diagnostic procedure, Ultrasound-Colour Doppler, Ultrasound, CT, Management, Emergency, Abdomen
Authors:
V. Moustakas1, E. Karallas2, K. Koutsopoulos2; 1Rodos/GR, 2Rhodes/GR
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2013/C-0708
Purpose
Acute appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency.
The diagnosis or exclusion of appendicitis may be made clinically,
however clinical examination does not appear to be sufficiently reliable to always identify or exclude acute appendicitis .
Because of its speed and accuracy,
multislice CT has almost completely supplanted the traditional physical exam,
currently the vast majority of patients are exposed to substantial radiation when CTs are used as the first-line imaging choice.
However,
ultrasound can help the radiologist make a definitive diagnosis in most patients,
while a CT is the equivalent to 500 chest X-rays with regard to radiation and it is anticipated that one in 4,000 patients getting a CT of the abdomen will die of the cancer that it causes.
On the other hand there is little doubt that technique and experience of the examiner plays a key role in the US diagnosis of appendicitis.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of Color Doppler Ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis and the higher diagnostic performances of CT against its disadvantages.