Background: Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of an ‘acute abdomen’ in young adults and, as such, the associated symptoms and signs have become a paradigm for clinical teaching. Appendicitis is sufficiently common that appendicectomy (termed appendectomy in North America) is the most frequently performed urgent abdominal operation and is often the first major procedure performed by a surgeon in training. In this study we correlate the usefulness of Modified Alvarado scoring system(MASS) and ultrasonography(USG) in management of acute appendicitis.Methods: The study was done on 60 patients of symptomatic appendicitis, requiring management accordingly, attending surgical OPD of People’s College of Medical Sciences(PCMS) and Research Centre, Bhopal, India from 1st October 2011 to 30th August 2013. The study includes 60 patients between 5-60 yrs of age. They were prospectively evaluated on admission using the modified Alvarado Score to determine whether or not they had acute appendicitis, all equivocal cases were subjected to ultrasonography examination. The score and ultrasonography were correlated with the operative and histological findings.Results: All 60 patients underwent surgery. The sensitivity of the modified Alvarado score was 89.65% and sensitivity of USG was 91.37%, out of 60 cases of acute appendicitis male were 36 and remaining 24 cases were female. So, it showed sex ratio of 36:24, 3:2 which correlate with literature and other studies. With use of both MASS and USG as diagnostic tool, out of 60 cases 57 cases were positive and with the help of histopathology, it was confirmed in 58 cases.Conclusions: The modified Alvarado scoring system is a good diagnostic indicator for acute appendicitis. It helps in minimizing the rates of negative appendicectomy. It can be used as an adjunct to surgical decision-making along with ultrasonography in doubtful cases. When combined, modified Alvarado score and ultrasonography can work very effectively in diagnosing acute appendicitis(AA) correctly and in reducing the number of negative appendicectomy.
Role of Modified Alvarado Score in the Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis