Nieuwe richtlijn acute appendicitis: routinematige preoperatieve beeldvorming is te simpel

With 16,000 operations every year, acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical diagnoses in Dutch emergency rooms. Diagnosis is based on clinical features: history, physical examination and laboratory testing. When the diagnosis is made, surgeons tend to operate quickly to prevent complications. In some cases this means that a healthy appendix is removed. The Dutch College of Surgeons wanted to reduce the number of removed healthy appendixes. This topic is discussed worldwide and the introduction of imaging is widely suggested. Ultrasonography and CT are said to be highly reliable in diagnosing appendicitis. While this may be the case in a research setting, it has been shown that in general hospitals they are not so reliable. Furthermore, the rise in the use of preoperative imaging has not brought down the negative appendectomy rate. We believe that imaging should be reserved for certain groups of patients. In the clear-cut cases it only increases the cost, patient burden and risk of complications; preoperative imaging should not be performed routinely.