The evaluation of technetium 99m-citrate scintigraphy in children with suspected appendicitis

Purpose: The authors evaluated the use of technetium (Tc) 99m-citrate scan in 30 children whose diagnoses of appendicitis were unclear. Methods: There were 17 boys and 13 girls (mean age 10.6 years). Nineteen of 30 patients had appendicitis confirmed at laparotomy and through histologi cal examination, and 11 patients had other causes of acute abdominal pain. Results: Children included in this study were similar with respect to age, duration of symptoms, temperature, white blood cell count, and the incidenc e of right lower quadrant tenderness. Sixteen children had positive scan fo r acute appendicitis, but 1 of them had false-positive. Fourteen children h ad negative scan, but 4 of them had false-negative. The calculated values w ere 78.9% (15 of 19), 90.9% (10 of 11), 83.3% (25 of 30), 93.7% (15 of 16), and 71.4% (10 of 14) for sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive pred iction, and negative prediction, respectively, in this study. Conclusion: The authors suggest the use of Tc-99m-citrate scan in children when the diagnosis of appendicitis using other methods is unclear. Copyrigh t (C) 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company.