Diagnostic Accuracy Of Ripasa Score

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Surgical Diagnostics
• Clinical Scoring Systems

Background:

• Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency requiring prompt diagnosis.
• Diagnostic scores aid in clinical decision-making for appendicitis.
• The RIPASA score is a recently developed diagnostic tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the RIPASA score for acute appendicitis.
• To compare the RIPASA score with the Alvarado score in diagnosing appendicitis.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study was conducted at Ayub Teaching Hospital from September 2017 to February 2018.
• Surgeons' clinical judgment guided appendectomy decisions, with specimens sent for histopathology.
• Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.

Main Results:

• Of 288 patients who underwent surgery for suspected appendicitis, 87.5% had a positive histopathology report.
• The negative appendectomy rate was 12.5%.
• RIPASA score (cut-off 7.5) demonstrated 98.02% sensitivity and 75% specificity, outperforming Alvarado's score (53% sensitivity, 75% specificity).

Conclusions:

• The RIPASA score is effective in early detection of acute appendicitis, potentially preventing complications.
• While RIPASA has high sensitivity, its lower specificity may contribute to a slightly higher negative appendectomy rate.
• RIPASA score demonstrates superior performance compared to Alvarado and Modified Alvarado scores in diagnosing acute appendicitis.