Migration of Abdominal Pain - An Effective Tool to Identify Appendicitis and the Only Parameter to Screen.

Acute appendicitis is a common disease. It may be tough to identify even with radiological and laboratory investigations. Migratory pain in the abdomen is a helpful key symptom, provided the patient presents within 24 hours of onset of appendicitis. METHODSPatients clinically presenting as acute appendicitis and operated for appendicectomy were recruited in the study. The presence and absence of migratory pain in the abdomen were evaluated and compared with the histopathology of the appendix. Parameters of diagnostic accuracy were measured. RESULTSThe sensitivity and specificity of migration of abdominal pain was found to be 97 percent and 100 percent respectively. The positive predictive value and the negative predictive value was 100 percent and 94 percent respectively. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 98%. CONCLUSIONSMigratory pain in the abdomen is a significant symptom to identify as well to rule out acute appendicitis.