Tomographic findings of acute appendicitis in patients treated at the general surgery of CMDLT 2018-2023.

Abstract

Introduction: In the tomography of the abdomen and pelvis, appendiceal signs can be seen such as diameter of the appendix, thickness of the wall, presence of obstruction of the lumen due to fecalith, alteration of the periappendiceal fat, presence of free fluid, among others. Our objective was to describe the typical and atypical tomographic findings in patients with complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis operated on during the period January 2018 – September 2023 at Centro Médico Docente la Trinidad. Methods: A retrospective, observational, analytical study was carried out with a sample of 202 patients with a diagnosis of acute appendicitis according to histological study, with tomography of the abdomen and pelvis. In addition, a review of medical records was carried out to describe the clinical presentation of acute appendicitis. Results: in the sample the predominant sex was male, in terms of age the majority was in the group of 31 to 60 years, the contrast used mostly for the tomography performed was 70% oral contrast. The most frequent signs observed in our study for acute appendicitis are alteration of the mesenteric fat, diameter greater than 6mm, wall thickness greater than 3mm, lymph nodes in the mesentery, thus constituting tomographic signs that improve the diagnostic performance of acute appendicitis. Conclusion: In our environment, the modality of tomography with administration of oral contrast predominated; However, it is important to emphasize the importance of using intravenous contrast media, in order to better demonstrate the radiological findings of each study.