Comments on: Think You Have Appendicitis? Here, Pee In This. http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2009/06/think-you-have-appendicitis-here-pee-in-this/ A blog from inside the emergency department Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:19:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mirjam http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2009/06/think-you-have-appendicitis-here-pee-in-this/#comment-17274 Mirjam Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:32:45 +0000 http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/?p=2915#comment-17274 Interesting. I was sent to the ED with such suspicions and also had a CT-scan done, which showed nothing. From what they told me I didn't have enough body fat to identify the appendix. They wanted to do an ultrasound at first, which would have been the best thing to do as it turned out when I had a laparoscopy that an ovarian cyst had ruptured. Interesting. I was sent to the ED with such suspicions and also had a CT-scan done, which showed nothing. From what they told me I didn’t have enough body fat to identify the appendix. They wanted to do an ultrasound at first, which would have been the best thing to do as it turned out when I had a laparoscopy that an ovarian cyst had ruptured.

]]> By: DancingSamurai.ca | Miscellaneous Catch-up http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2009/06/think-you-have-appendicitis-here-pee-in-this/#comment-9269 DancingSamurai.ca | Miscellaneous Catch-up Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:15:07 +0000 http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/?p=2915#comment-9269 [...] A urine test for appendicitis? Would be useful! (via WhiteCoat) [...] [...] A urine test for appendicitis? Would be useful! (via WhiteCoat) [...]

]]> By: Shalom (R.Ph.) http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2009/06/think-you-have-appendicitis-here-pee-in-this/#comment-9258 Shalom (R.Ph.) Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:10:12 +0000 http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/?p=2915#comment-9258 Funny you should write this just now. As it happens, I just spent this past Sunday afternoon at the ED having a CT scan to R/O appendicitis or diverticulitis. It would have been nice if I could have just peed in a cup and been told, "No, you don't have appendicitis, go home." (It was neither, by the way. Had no other symptoms, beyond the feeling that someone was stabbing me repeatedly with a hot knitting needle right at McBurney's spot, but my MD suggested I still go to the ED. Still don't know what the hell it was, but it resolved spontaneously after another day.) False positives on a test like this aren't so bad; you'd have had to do the CT anyway, so you're not losing anything beyond the cost of the lab. False negatives would bother me much more. Funny you should write this just now. As it happens, I just spent this past Sunday afternoon at the ED having a CT scan to R/O appendicitis or diverticulitis. It would have been nice if I could have just peed in a cup and been told, “No, you don’t have appendicitis, go home.”

(It was neither, by the way. Had no other symptoms, beyond the feeling that someone was stabbing me repeatedly with a hot knitting needle right at McBurney’s spot, but my MD suggested I still go to the ED. Still don’t know what the hell it was, but it resolved spontaneously after another day.)

False positives on a test like this aren’t so bad; you’d have had to do the CT anyway, so you’re not losing anything beyond the cost of the lab. False negatives would bother me much more.

]]> By: paul http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2009/06/think-you-have-appendicitis-here-pee-in-this/#comment-9235 paul Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:13:39 +0000 http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/?p=2915#comment-9235 sounds like it's going to become the "d-dimer" of abdominal pain. good rule-out test (if your pretest probability is low), not so good rule-in test. sounds like it’s going to become the “d-dimer” of abdominal pain. good rule-out test (if your pretest probability is low), not so good rule-in test.

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