Sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis at Al-Shefa hospital, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Patients who had appendicitis diagnosed by ultrasound over the study period (n = 180) underwent surgical excision of the appendix. The negative appendectomy rate was low, with only 4.4% (8/180) false positives. A significantly higher false diagnosis rate (false negatives + false positives) was obtained in female patients than in males: 38.5% versus 6.2%. A high proportion of falsely diagnosed cases had abnormal weight (overweight or obese) (82.1%). The overall sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound, using surgical outcome as the gold standard, were 84.8% and 83.3% respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values were 93.3% and 66.7% respectively. Sensitivity and specificity were higher in males (95.7% and 88.2% respectively) than females (84.6% and 71.4% respectively).