Objective:

Appendectomy is the most commonly performed emergent intervention in general surgery clinics; imaging techniques must be used as a guide to reduce the rate of negative exploration. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of preoperatively performed abdominal ultrasonographic evaluation on the rate of negative exploration.

Material and Methods:

Two hundred and fifty nine out of 352 patients who were operated on for acute appendicitis between 1st January 2011 and 8th January 2012 at our centre were included in this study. Demographic data, ultrasonographic findings and pathological reports of each patient were evaluated retrospectively.

Results:

The patients were divided into two groups depending on whether ultrasonographic examination was performed or not. The overall negative exploration rate was 18.5% in patients included in the study; the rate was 18.7% and 18.2% in patients who underwent ultrasonographic examination or not, respectively. However, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.

Conclusion:

Our negative exploration rate was similar to results published in the literature. Ultrasonographic examination performed at our centre has been found to have no impact on reducing negative exploration rates for acute appendicitis. This may be due to the limitations of ultrasonography, which is an operator-dependent technique. Also, this may be the result of anxiety in surgeons; they may be ordering ultrasonography unnecessarily, because of concern over malpractice laws.

Keywords: Acute appendicitis, negative appendectomy, abdominal ultrasonography