Misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis
Alternative diagnoses list for Acute Appendicitis:
For a diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis,
the following list of conditions
have been mentioned in sources
as possible alternative diagnoses
to consider during the diagnostic process for Acute Appendicitis:
Diseases for which Acute Appendicitis may be an alternative diagnosis
The other diseases for which Acute Appendicitis
is listed as a possible alternative
diagnosis in their lists include:
Acute Appendicitis Diagnosis: Book Excerpts
Acute Appendicitis: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed conditions in related areas may include:
Discussion of diagnosis/misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis:
Some people have pain when gas is present in the intestine. When pain
is on the left side of the colon, it can be confused with heart disease.
When the pain is on the right side of the colon, it may mimic gallstones
or appendicitis. (Source: excerpt from Gas in the Digestive Tract: NIDDK)
Common Misdiagnoses and Acute Appendicitis
Mild worm infections undiagnosed in children: Human worm infestations, esp. threadworm, can be overlooked in some cases,
because it may cause only mild or even absent symptoms.
Although the most common symptoms are anal itch (or vaginal itch),
which are obvious in severe cases,
milder conditions may fail to be noticed in children.
In particular, it may interfere with the child's good night's sleep.
Threadworm is a condition to consider in children with symptoms such as bedwetting (enuresis),
difficulty sleeping, irritability, or other sleeping symptoms.
Visual inspection of the region can often see the threadworms, at night when they are active,
but they can also be missed this way, and multiple inspections can be warranted if worms are suspected.
See the introduction to threadworm.
Undiagnosed acute appendicitis deadly in children: It is a sad reality that a child with acute appendicitis
has a high likelihood of misdiagnosis.
This misdiagnosis is a well-known cause of death, and indeed of malpractice lawsuits, in the medical industry.
That it is often overlooks is somewhat understandable.
Compared to other causes of abdominal pain, it is less common than simple explanations like gastroenteritis
or food poisoning.
The hallmark symptom of appendicitis, abominal pain located right at the navel, is also the way that
young children report almost any type of abdominal discomfort.
See the introduction to appendicitis and misdiagnosis of appendicitis.
Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the
more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed
(it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal effect).
One of the most common misdiagnosed is for children with mesenteric adenitis
to be misdiagnosed as appendicitis.
Fortunately, thus misdiagnosis is usually less serious than the reverse failure to diagnose appendicitis.
Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue
with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure.
The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately
test a child's blood pressure.
This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of a child with hypertension.
The problem even has a name unofficially: "small cuff syndrome".
See misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be
correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients.
These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines can also occur in children.
See misdiagnosis of migraine or introduction to migraine.
Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent
difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases.
Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, or GERD.
Other sometimes overlooked possibilities include Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic appendicitis,
Celiac disease, Carcinoid syndrome, gastroparesis, and others. See all types of chronic digestive diseases.
Not always a case of appendicitis: Pain in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen leads to numerous differential diagnoses in the mind of the doctor.Not all cases of right sided abdominal pain are acute appendicitis.Misdiagnosis of an acute appendicitis leads to unnecessary surgery. A good clinical history must be taken to rule out various other conditions such as gastroenteritis,right renal colic,biliary colic,Meckel's diverticulum etc. Some of the symptoms that need to be looked into include moderate to severe abdominal pain,fever,nausea and vomiting.The intensity and nature of pain must be assessed along with the presence of fever .Fever maybe unlikely in a case of renal colic unless associated with infection.Accurate judgement can be made using investigative modalities such as CT scan and ultrasound.
Meckel's diverticulum: Meckel's diverticulum is one of the major causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding in children.Meckel's diverticulum is a remnant of the omphalomesenteric duct and the condition occurs in children,young adults as well as in the elderly and is commonly mistaken as a case of acute appendicitis.It can present with acute pain abdomen,rectal bleeding,nausea and vomiting.The condition must be identified by the clinician as it is associated with some serious complications such as bleeding due to the presence of ectopic gastric mucosa,diverticulitis,umbilical discharge,perforation,torsion and peritonitis.The clinician may find it difficult to diagnose a case of Meckel's diverticulum especially in an elderly individual due to lack of specificity.
Medical news summaries about misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis:
The following medical news items
are relevant to misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis:
General Misdiagnosis Articles
Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.
About misdiagnosis:
When checking for a misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis
or confirming a diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis,
it is useful to consider what other
medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative
conditions relevant to diagnosis.
These alternate diagnoses of Acute Appendicitis may already have
been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible
alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Acute Appendicitis.
For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases,
see Overview of Misdiagnosis.
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