Ron AA, Saleme CE, Guerrero MT, Hernández FK, Montiel FH, Olvera GC

Language: Spanish
References: 15
Page: 90-94
PDF size: 59.96 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Background: Abdominal pain is the most common complaint seen in the emergency room. There are scales used to determine its severity and need for surgical intervention. The Alvarado scale is useful in patients with suspected appendicitis, but not in patients with abdominal pain of other etiologies. Objective: To analyze whether the modified Alvarado scale is useful in the detection of severe pathologies than acute appendicitis in patients with abdominal pain. Material and methods: We performed an observational, prospective, and analytical study on patients that visited our emergency room with abdominal pain between May 2011 and March 2012. It included 255 patients older than the age of 12 years, with a complete medical record, and who underwent some abdominal imaging method. Results: Acute appendicitis was diagnosed by imaging study in 30% (n = 76) of the patients, making it the most commonly diagnosed abdominal pathology. Patients were classified as low, medium or high risk, based on the modified Alvarado score. Of the total number of patients, 39% (n = 100) were low risk, 44% (n = 113) where medium risk, and 16% (n = 42) were considered high risk. When comparing each risk category to the type of emergency (medical versus surgical) or non-emergency a significant concordance of p = 0.013 was found, confirming the useful of the modified Alvarado scale. However, if the acute appendicitis patients are excluded, there is no statistically significant correlation between the modified Alvarado scale score and the type of emergency. Conclusions: In our emergency room, the most common cause of abdominal pain is acute appendicitis. The modified Alvarado scale is useful in classifying patient’s risk of suffering from acute appendicitis, however, it is not useful in patients with abdominal pain of other etiologies.

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