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Query: UMLS:C0085693 (acute appendicitis)
 3,606 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sterilization by tubal occlusive methods is not always successful. This fact is not, however, well recognized among general surgeons. When failures occur, ectopic pregnancy is the usual outcome, most commonly in the Fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancy has a reported mortality of approximately 3.5/1000, with the majority of deaths associated with delay in diagnosis. The failure to consider this possibility of ectopic pregnancy after tubal ligation when female patients present with right-sided abdominal pain causes health personnel to commonly misdiagnose the condition of appendicitis. A 26 year old woman presented to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Royal Hobart Hospital with lower abdominal pain mainly in the right iliac fossa. Pain was intermittent for two weeks prior to presentation. On the morning of presentation, the pain became severe and was exacerbated by coughing and movements. The patient was nauseated, but had not vomited; there was neither fever nor rigors. Four years earlier, in England, the patient had undergone elective laparoscopic sterilization. Sexually active, she believed that she was menstruating at the time of presentation, especially since her last menstruation occurred four weeks previously. The patient was noted upon examination to have a "grey look," pulse rate of 80 beats/minute, blood pressure of 120/80 mmHg, and a generally tender abdomen, maximally in the right iliac fossa. There were no bowel sounds and rectal examination proved to be extremely painful in all directions. The accident and emergency staff took blood for a full blood count, serum human chorionic gonadotrophin, and arranged surgical consultation. The surgical diagnosis was for acute appendicitis and the patient was transferred to the operating theater for appendectomy. Just prior to anesthetic induction, the pathology results became available, indicating a hemoglobin of 10.3 g/dl and a positive serum HCG. The diagnosis was thus revised to ruptured ectopic pregnancy and laparotomy was performed through a Pfannenstiel incision. 1000 ml of blood was removed from the peritoneal cavity, a ruptured tubal pregnancy was found in the right distal tube, and the appendix was normal. A right salpingo-oophorectomy was performed after which the patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged five days postoperatively. Histopathology confirmed a ruptured ectopic gestation.
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PMID:Misdiagnosis of appendicitis in tubally sterilized women. 846 65

Ectopic pregnancies can be very difficult to diagnose at initial admission. This paper reviewed the morbidity and mortality associated with misdiagnosis of ectopic gestation over a 15-year period (1985-99) at Ile-Ife, Nigeria. There were 380 confirmed ectopic pregnancies of 35 857 live births, giving an incidence of 10.5 per 1000 live births. Of the 380 cases, 38 (10%) were misdiagnosed initially at presentation. Mistaken diagnoses include pelvic inflammatory diseases, cholera, acute appendicitis, typhoid enteritis, incomplete septic abortion, uterine fibroid with menorrhagia, malaria, gastroenteritis, peptic ulcer and intestinal obstruction. There were five maternal deaths among the 38 misdiagnosed cases compared to two maternal deaths among the 342 initially correctly diagnosed cases. Significant morbidity included prolonged hospital stay, increased hospital costs and an enterocutaneous fistula. To improve the chances of correct diagnosis at initial admission, accurate menstrual and sexual history should be obtained. Facilities for improved diagnosis such as serum beta HCG and transvaginal ultrasonography should be provided. Colleagues from other specialities should be educated to increase their suspicion of ectopic pregnancy in any woman of childbearing age and perform the appropriate investigations.
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PMID:Mortality and morbidity associated with misdiagnosis of ectopic pregnancy in a defined Nigerian population. 1252 28