VALIDITY OF ALVARADO SCORING SYSTEM IN DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS

BACKGROUND: The first appendectomy was performed by Claudius Amyand in 1736 when he wasoperating on a boy for hernia and found appendix lying in hernial sac. Reginald Fitz introduced the wordappendicitis in 1886 and before that it was called typhlitis or perityphlitis.Frederick Treves performedthe lstappendicle surgery in England for the new disease ‘appendicitis’ in 1887.OBJECTIVE: To study the accuracy of modified Alvarado scorning system in diagnosis of acuteappendicitis.MATERIAL & METHODS: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at DHQ HospitalTimergara Dir lower from January 2015 to July 2015 to find out the accuracy of Alvarado Scoringsystem in the diagnoses of acute appendicitis. A total of 50 patients admitted in surgical ward from OPDand Casualty with suspected appendicitis were included in the study. Patients less than 7 years andpatients with mass right iliac fossa were excluded. Every patient was evaluated with modified Alvaradoscoring system on a standard Proforma. Patients with Alvarado score of > 6 underwent appendectomy.The removed appendices were sent for histopathology to confirm or otherwise the provisional diagnosisof acute appendicitis and hence the accuracy of Alvarado scoring system.RESULTS: Out of 50 patients, 20 were male &30 were female with a male to female ratio of 1:1.5. Themean age of the patients was 19.7 ± 9.6years. The mean Alvarado score was 7.92 ± 1.383. TheHistopathology reports of the specimens of 37 patients were confirmative of acute appendicitis whereasthe rest of the (13 patients) removed appendices were reported normal by histopathalogist. So thesensitivity is 74%.CONCLUSION: Our study shows that Alvarado scoring system is a simple and quick tool in theevaluation and management of suspected cases of acute appendicitis. Its accuracy increases if used inpatients above 14 years of age.KEYWORD: Alvarado scoring system, Appendicitis, Accuracy.