Clinical scoring systems in acute appendicitis-Current perspectives-Review article

Abstract

Clinical scoring systems have been used in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis and they have had varying degrees of success. The most common scoring system is the Alvarado scoring system followed by other scoring systems like the RIPASA and AIR systems. Most of the scoring systems are good at ruling out appendicitis or selecting patients who may require further imaging like ultrasound or computerized tomography. On their own most clinical scoring systems are not used to solely diagnose acute appendicitis and we have conducted this review article to look at the common scoring systems that are being used and its sensitivity and specificity.