Acute appendicitis (AP) is the most frequent cause of surgical inter vention in the emergency services, with approximately 10% of all surgeries in western population. In our country the difference of temperature taken in the axilar and rectal area (DAR) is frequently used as a clinical sign in the initial evaluation of AP. Traditionally it is considered that DAR is elevated in more than 1 Celsius degree in AP. When searching the medical literature no references are found about this clinical sign. The objective of this study is to evaluate the DAR in AP. 90 patients with suspicious AP were prospectively studied at the emergency department of the clinical hospital of the University of Chile during the month of June of 2002. In 31 ofthem AP were confirmed. The medium age was 32 in AP and 36 in no -
AP, with 45% of females in AP and 70% in no -AP. The mean axilar and rectal temperature, an DAR were 3 6 . 9 / 3 6 . 7 , 3 7 . 7 / 3 7 . 4 a n d 0 . 8 / 0 . 7 i n A P a n d n o - A P respectively. No statistical differences were found. The sensibility and specificity of DAR as isolated clinical sign in AP was of 19.3% and 84.7% respectively
Keywords:
Axila, Apendicitis/diagnóstico, Temperatura Corporal, Recto, Análisis de Varianza, Valor Predictivo de las Pruebas, Estudios Prospectivos, Sensibilidad y Especificidad
Fernández, M. ., Valencia, M. ., Jauregui, C., & Mena, A. . (2005). Evaluación de la Diferencia de temperatura axilo-rectal en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda. Revista Hospital Clínico Universidad De Chile, 16(2), pp. 124–7. https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-7996.2005.78740
