US diagnosis of acute appendicitis

Abstract

Anorexia, nausea, vomiting and pain are the commonest symptoms related to the acute appendicitis. The pain begins in the epigastria, gradually moves to the periumbilical region and finally over a period of 1-12 hours, localizes in the right lower quadrant in more than 50% of the patients i.e. with sensitivity and specificity of 80%. The pain becomes diffuse in peritonitis with the direct or rebound tenderness of the abdominal muscles. The duration of the symptoms longer than 36 hours is unusual in unperforated appendix.1