Clinical features of acute appendicitis: A two-year study in a Surgical Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

dc.contributor.authorClegg-Lamptey, J.N.A.
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-22T09:06:10Z
dc.date.available2019-10-22T09:06:10Z
dc.date.issued2002-12
dc.descriptionJournal Articleen_US
dc.description.abstractAcute appendicitis is one of the commonest surgical emergencies all over the world although it is less common in developing countries the incidence has been on the increase and is now known to constitute as much as 30% of all emergency general surgical emergencies in Accra. The diagnosis can sometimes be difficult to make and it may require the use of scoring systems (like the Alvarado), laboratory investigations like white cell count and creative protein, or more detailed investigations like high resolution ultrasonography, CT scan, radioisotope scan and laparoscopy. Since these are unaffordable in many developing countries, the clinical features remain the most important for making the diagnosis. The symptoms, sign and white cell count were studied in a 24-month prospective study of 156 patients with acute appendicitis at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Abdominal pain (100%), vomiting 71.2%) and loss of appetite (62.2%) were the most important symptoms. The classical pain of appendicitis, which moves from the peri-umbilical region to the right iliac fossa (RIF), was present in 48.3%. Tender- ness in the RIF was the most important sign (98.7%), followed by a pulse of >80/minutes (87.2%). The white cell count was raised above 10 x 10 9 /1 in only 43.7% of the patients. Dunphy’s sign was more important than Rovsing’s sign. The appendiceal foetor was hardly recognized by any of the attending doctors.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/255962773_Clinical_Features_of_Appendicitis_A_two-year_study_in_a_surgical_unit_at_Korle_Bu_Teaching_Hospital
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/32984
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherGhana Medical Journalen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries36;4
dc.subjectAcute appendicitisen_US
dc.subjectsymptomsen_US
dc.subjectsignsen_US
dc.subjectwhite cell counten_US
dc.titleClinical features of acute appendicitis: A two-year study in a Surgical Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospitalen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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