Evaluation of Alvarado Score in Acute Appendicitis: Prospective Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Decision making in case of acute appendicitis may be difficult, especially for junior surgeon. Radiological investigations do not appear to be helpful sometime. A decision to operate based on clinical suspicion alone can lead to removal of normal appendix in 15-30 % cases. In some studies Alvarado Scoring System was helpful in minimizing unnecessary appendectomies. The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of Alvarado scoring in preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis. METHODS: A 100 consecutive patients suspected of acute appendicitis who were admitted, investigated and treated were taken for the study. They were prospectively evaluated using the Alvarado scoring to determine whether or not they had acute appendicitis they were assigned in three groups they were treated accordingly. The AS was correlated with operative and histopathological findings. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that high score in men and children (7-9) had a sensitivity of 95.45 % and 87.50& respectively, where in females it had a sensitivity of 76 %. The score (5-6) in men and females had a sensitivity of 57.14 % and 75 % respectively. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: the high score in Alvarado Score Is dependable aid in the early diagnosis of acute appendicitis in men and children but is a less dependable aid as far as women are concerned.