Accuracy of surgeon prediction of appendicitis severity in pediatric patients

Presentation management and outcome of phlegmonous and inflammed appendicitis in children in Ethiopia: retrospective review

BACKGROUND

Acute appendicitis is the leading cause of emergency pediatric surgical admissions in the world. The diagnosis is may be difficult and is often dependent on clinical parameters. This study was aimed at reviewing the clinical presentations, the management and outcomes in children with inflamed and phlegmonous appendicitis with reference to the operative findings.

METHODS

The records of 211 children 5 to 15 years of age who were operated for acute appendicitis with intra operative findings of inflamed or phlegmonous appendicitis who met inclusion criteria were entered and analyzed using SPSS (IBM) V.26. Descriptive and regression tests were done with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Of 211 children with inflamed and phlegmonous appendicitis, the M: F was 1.48:1 with a median age of 11 years. 58.3% of them presented within 24 h with the commonest symptoms being right lower abdominal pain, anorexia, and vomiting (96.2%,96.2%, 85.3%,) respectively. 96.7% of them had right lower abdominal tenderness. 73% had neutrophils ≥ 75%, and of 171 patients who had abdominal ultrasound scan, 97.7% showed appendiceal diameter ≥ 6 mm. Intraoperatively 56.4% of them were found to have phlegmonous appendicitis. In a retrospective Pediatric Appendiceal Score, only 52.6% of patients fall into the high-risk category, who could be confirmed on preoperative clinical assessment. Postoperatively 90% of them discharged improved with a mean hospital stay of 2.26(SD = 0.9) days. There was no association between the sex of the child and the intraoperative finding of inflamed or phlegmonous appendicitis (p = 0.77).

CONCLUSION

Pediatric appendicitis affects more male children in their second decade of life. Most had phlegmonous appendicitis and presented within 24 h. Duration of illness has little effect on the progress of appendicitis. Surgical management is safe for inflamed and phlegmonous appendicitis with a reasonable hospital stay and a low rate of complications.

Related Markers for the Precision Diagnosis of Complex Appendicitis in Children

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in children. Despite the high incidence rate of appendicitis, it is sometimes misdiagnosed or missed. Complex appendicitis (CA) in children is characterized by a critical condition, several complications, and high mortality. Precision distinguishing between simple appendicitis and CA correctly is key to choosing appropriate treatment. A safe, cheap, rapid, extensive and accurate diagnostic marker of appendicitis will be of great significance for emergency general surgeons to treat suspected CA. Many studies have investigated possible diagnostic markers for the diagnosis of CA in children. In this study, studies related to CA in children in recent years are summarized, and the related markers and scoring system for the diagnosis of CA in children are summarized.

Applying the Pediatric Appendicitis Score to predict complicated appendicitis in children

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the Pediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) and other indicators to enable the prediction of complicated appendicitis (CA) in children.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study evaluated children (n = 161) aged ≤16 years with acute appendicitis between 2008 and 2020. Demographic data, symptoms, physical findings, laboratory data, and PASs were collected. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors for CA. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed. The diagnostic performance of each predictor was evaluated.

RESULTS

Multivariate analysis identified three predictors for CA: duration of symptoms >1 day, C-reactive protein (CRP) level > 4 mg/dL, and PAS ≥ 8. The ROC curve of the combined three predictors showed an area under the curve of 0.91. The multivariate ROC curve revealed that the presence of a PAS contributed to a significant improvement in the diagnosis of CA compared to the absence of PAS. When combined, the three predictors had a high specificity of 99% and positive predictive value of 98%.

CONCLUSIONS

A symptom duration >1 day, CRP > 4 mg/dL, and PAS ≥ 8 were predictors for CA. The PAS can be useful for prediction of CA when combined with the duration of symptoms, CRP, or both.

The use of a score-based protocol in pediatric appendicitis decreases CT scan utilization when evaluating children in a community hospital

Background

The Pediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) is a validated scoring system assessing children with abdominal pain. Prior to 2016, children with abdominal pain in our community hospital were evaluated primarily using CT scans. A protocol using PAS and ultrasound (US) as the primary radiologic modality was adopted in 2016 for evaluating children with abdominal pain. The protocol consisted of three tiers with low PAS requiring no radiologic evaluation; moderate PAS requiring US and high PAS requiring initial surgical consultation. Retrospective chart review of children presenting with clinically suspected appendicitis was performed from January 2015 through December 2017, representing 1 year before and 2 years after implementation of PAS protocol. PAS scoring was assigned retrospectively to patients not scored in the emergency physician’s note, and statistical analysis of the patient cohorts was performed using SPSS, version 17. This study was approved by the University of Nevada Institutional Review Board.

Results

Application of PAS scoring system increased use of US as the primary radiologic test from 59% pre-protocol to 91% post protocol and decreased use of CT scans from 41 to 8% (p < .05). Physician adherence to protocol improved from 59 to 71%, increasing further to 81% in the 2nd year post-protocol (p < .05). The highest rate of non-compliance was noted when providers ordered an US in patients with a low PAS, followed by ordering any radiologic tests in patients with a high PAS.

Conclusion

Implementation of PAS-based protocol altered clinician behavior in a community hospital when evaluating children with clinically suspected appendicitis. Improved adherence to the protocol over time with significant decrease of CT scans ordered thereby reducing radiation exposure in the pediatric population. Future improvements will be aimed at decreasing radiologic testing in patients with a low PAS and involving surgeons earlier with patients who have a high PAS as clinical acceptance to the protocol matures.

Predicting the Severity of Acute Appendicitis of Young Children (<3 Years Old): Development and Assessment of a New Prediction Nomogram

Objective: There is a lack of assessment methods of acute appendicitis in little children. The purpose of this study was to develop and internally validate a nomogram for predicting the severity of acute appendicitis of young children (<3 years old). Methods: We develop a prediction model based on a training dataset of 121 patients (<3 years old) with acute appendicitis. Admission information was collected between January 2010 and January 2021, which contained demographic characteristic, laboratory examinations, treatment and pathology type, etc. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors and establish the predictive model. C-index and calibration curves were applied to evaluate the performance of the nomogram. Then corrected C-index was calculated to conduct internal verification by using the bootstrapping validation. Decision curve analysis determined clinical application of the prediction model. Results: Predictors contained in the prediction nomogram included weight for age, onset time (from developing symptoms to hospital), admission temperature, leukocyte count, neutrophil ratio, and total bilirubin. Logistic regression analysis showed that weight for age (X1) < -2.32 SD (P = 0.046), onset time (X2) > 2.5 days (P = 0.044), admission temperature (X3) > 38.5°C (P = 0.009), leukocyte count (X4) > 12.185^*109/L (P = 0.045), neutrophil ratio (X5) > 68.7% (P = 0.029), and total bilirubin (X6) > 9.05 μmol/L (P = 0.035) were found to be significant for predicting the severity of appendicitis. The logistic regression equation was logit (P) = -0.149X1 + 0.51X2 + 1.734X3 + 0.238X4 + 0.061X5 + 0.098X6 - 75.229. C-index of nomogram was calculated at 0.8948 (95% Cl: 0.8332-0.9567) and it still was 0.8867 through bootstrapping validation. Decision curve analysis showed that when the threshold probability ranged from 14 to 88%, there is a net benefit of using this prediction model for severity of appendicitis in little children. Conclusion: This novel nomogram incorporating the weight for age, onset time, admission temperature, leukocyte count, neutrophil ratio, and total bilirubin could be conveniently used to estimate the severity of appendicitis of young children <3 years old) and determine appropriate treatment options in time.