Abstract

CARDENAS, Oscar  and  SAMUDIO, Margarita. Utility of the Alvarado Scale in patients with suspected acute appendicitis in a public hospital in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Rev. cient. cienc. salud [online]. 2019, vol.1, n.1, pp.1-10. ISSN 2664-2891.  https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/01.01.2019.01.

Diagnosis of acute appendicitis, main cause of surgical care at the hospital emergency department, is essentially clinical. However, several methods have been used to improve diagnostic accuracy, such as the Alvarado score. Observational, prospective and longitudinal study to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of the Alvarado score in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in the emergency department of the regional hospital of Ciudad del Este from June to December 2015 was carried out. Alvarado score was applied to 222 patients with suspected acute appendicitis, between 15 and 81 years of age, 123 (55.4%) men and 99 (44.6%) women with suspected appendicitis, further classified into two groups according to whether submitted (n = 138) or not to appendectomy (n = 84). In non-operated patients, diagnosis was confirmed by telephone. The criteria included in the Alvarado scale such as pain migration, Blumberg sign and leukocytosis were significantly (p <0.001) more frequent in the operated group. The sensitivity and specificity of the Alvarado score were 94.2% and 82.1%, respectively and both positive and negative predictive values were 89.6%. Histopathological result showed phlegmonous appendicitis in 50% of the operated patients. The Alvarado scoring system is a very useful tool to improve the diagnostic efficiency in acute appendicitis. It is recommended to use it in outpatient and emergency care services.

Keywords : appendicitis; sensitivity and specificity; diagnostic..

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