Clinical scoring system: a valuable tool for decision making in cases of acute appendicitis.

Objective: Decision making in cases of acute appendicitis poses a clinical challenge specially in developing countries where advanced radiological investigations do not appear cost effective and so clinical parameters remain the mainstay of diagnosis. The aim of our study was to devise a scoring system from our local database and test its accuracy in the preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

Methods: Clinical data from 401 patients having undergone appendectomy were collected to identify predictive factors that distinguished those with appendicitis from those who had a negative appendectomy.