Accuracy of surgeon prediction of appendicitis severity in pediatric patients
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Read the article on jpedsurg.org ↗Article · May 2019 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
This study evaluates pediatric surgeons' ability to accurately predict appendicitis severity (simple vs. complex) before surgery using clinical data and imaging. Accurate preoperative prediction is critical for determining which patients may be candidates for nonoperative management versus immediate surgical intervention.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Purpose
Clinical prediction of disease severity is important as one considers nonoperative management of simple appendicitis. This study assesses the accuracy of surgeons' prediction of appendicitis severity.
Methods
From February to August 2016, pediatric surgeons at a single institution were asked to predict whether patients had simple or complex appendicitis preoperatively based on clinical data, imaging, and general assessment. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated to determine area under the curve (AUC) and optimal cutoff points of clinical findings for diagnosing simple appendicitis. Outcomes included sensitivity and specificity of variables to identify simple appendicitis. Predictions were compared to operative findings using χ2. A p-value