Negative Appendectomies: Evaluating Diagnostic Imaging Techniques at General versus Pediatric Emergency Departments.

Background: Although appendicitis is the most common pediatric surgical emergency, the path to diagnosis remains equivocal, with utilization of imaging modalities largely institution dependent.

Objectives: Our objective was to compare imaging practices and negative appendectomy rates between patients transferred from nonpediatric hospitals to our pediatric hospital and primary patients presenting directly to our institution.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all laparoscopic appendectomy cases performed at our pediatric hospital in 2017 for imaging and histopathologic results.