Volume 24, Issue 105, September - October, 2020

Anorexia in acute appendicitis: A non-specific factor with significant accuracy in diagnosis

Aditya Mundada¹, Vikram Vaidya², Yeshwant Lamture^3♦

¹Junior Resident, Department of General Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
²Assistant Professor, Department of General Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
³Professor, Department of General Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India

^♦Corresponding author
Professor, Department of General Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, India; Email: dryrlamture@yahoo.co.in / mundada.adi@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background: Acute appendicitis is a common disease. Early diagnosis and treatment may decrease the associated morbidity and mortality associated with it. The availability of advanced imaging techniques such as computed tomography may not be available in a resource limited setting and thus patient’s history and clinical symptoms are crucial in diagnosing appendicitis in its acute stage. Most of the patients have anorexia as a symptom and the lack of it reduces the chances of having appendicitis. Objective: To determine the outcome of anorexia in patients of appendicitis with reference to its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy. Methods: The patients clinically presenting as acute appendicitis and undergoing operative intervention were recruited in the study. History of anorexia was recorded in all the patients. The presence and absence of anorexia were evaluated and compared with the histopathology of the appendix. Parameters of diagnostic accuracy were measured. Results: The diagnostic accuracy of anorexia in our present study was found to be 91.25%. It had high sensitivity and PPV of 95.31% and 93.85%. The specificity and NPV of anorexia was found to be 75% and 80%. Conclusion: Anorexia is an important symptom which increases the probability of acute appendicitis.

Keywords: Modified Alvarado score, loss of appetite, negative appendicectomy

Medical Science, 2020, 24(105), 2812-2816

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