Researchers from Children's Minnesota (Children's) and HealthPartners Institute have developed a new pediatric appendicitis risk calculator (pARC) to aid in the diagnosis of appendicitis. The calculator was developed as part of a $3.1 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In the April issue of Pediatrics, the researchers describe a novel method to calculate a patient's specific risk for appendicitis. With this new method, clinicians will be able to provide tailored medical and surgical guidance to a patient. In the study, researchers used data collected from ten pediatric emergency departments to develop the risk calculator and then independently validated the score using data from a single children's hospital. Potential benefits of using the new risk calculator include a reduction in the use of computed tomography (CT), more judicious utilization of ultrasound and a reduction in healthcare expenditures.

"This method is of great benefit to our patients and the health care system overall," said Dr. Anupam Kharbanda, co-Principal Investigator and chief of critical care services at Children's Minnesota. "In addition to being able to target our care specifically to each patient, we're also reducing the use of unnecessary medical tests and expenses. We're thrilled to have developed a new way to standardize care for children and adolescents with abdominal pain."

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180313084213.htm 

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