CORRELATION OF PERITONEAL ASPIRATION CYTOLOGY WITH ACUTE APPENDICITIS

Fifty-one patients in whom a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis had been made underwent peritoneal aspiration cytology (PAC). Thirty-s ix had a positive result, 11 had a negative result and aspiration fail ed in four cases. All patients had an appendicectomy and the histologi cal findings were correlated with the PAC results. Thirty-rive of the 36 patients with a positive PAC had histologically proven appendicitis . Seven or the 11 patients with a negative result had normal appendice s. The sensitivity of PAC for acute appendicitis was 85% and the speci ficity was 70%. The positive predictive value was found to be 97% and the negative predictive value 60%. Peritoneal aspiration cytology is a useful aid in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis however, a negative result does not exclude this diagnosis.