The Roentgenologic Diagnosis of Appendiceal Calculi

Abstract

The occurrence of calculi in the appendix has been familiar to surgeons and pathologists for many years, but there is no record of a correct preoperative diagnosis of this condition prior to the use of x-rays. The importance of early diagnosis at once becomes apparent when it is realized that appendiceal calculi usually result in acute appendicitis and that the incidence of perforation in these cases is about 50 per cent. Weisflog (63), in 1906, contributed the first case report with a correct preoperative diagnosis, demonstrating two calculi in the region of the appendix on a roentgenogram. In a study of 100 cases reported since that time, we have been able to find only 11 more in which the diagnosis was made preoperatively and proved surgically. In an additional 11 instances surgical confirmation was lacking. In 19 patients an incorrect interpretation of the x-ray films was made, and in 13 others the preoperative diagnosis was not clearly stated. In the remainder roentgen studies were not made. In spite...