Publication:

Comparison of RIPASA and Alvarado score in diagnosing acute appendicitis

Background Acute appendicitis is a common cause of abdominal pain and can be difficult to diagnose, especially during its early stages.  The diagnosis of acute appendicitis is based on clinical history, examination combined with investigations. The purpose of this study is to compare between the RIPASA score and Alvarado score in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. The aim of the present study was to compare the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of Alvarado and RIPASA score.

Methods The cases for the study will be sourced from cases admitted in SVMCH and RC, Puducherry during the period of November 2016 to June 2018.

Results Out of the 144 patients in our study 133 patients were diagnosed with acute appendicitis as per HPE report.As per our study, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of RIPASA and Alvarado scoring system is 96.2%, 57.1%, 97.7% and 44.4%; 81.9%,85.7%, 95.1% and 20%  respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of RIPASA score is 94.3 as compared to 82.1 of Alvarado score.

Conclusions The RIPASA scoring system is a promising and has good sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy when compared to Alvarado scoring for Asian Population.RIPASA scoring system is an easy and reliable, cost effective diagnostic tool which reduce negative appendicectomy rates and the expensive radiological investigations for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.