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Abstract
Diagnostic characteristics of acute appendicitis at the regional hospital of Duitama, Colombia during the period ofJanuary-March in year 2010.Introduction: acute appendicitis remains as the most common disease that requires surgery. Medical record and physicalexamination are considered the most useful tools in diagnosis. Objective: to describe the main signs and symptoms registeredin a list of cases diagnosed as acute appendicitis at the Hospital of Duitama, Boyacá, Colombia. Materials and Methods:analytical, observational, cross sectional study. It was reviewed the medical records of 99 cases of appendicitis operated atthe Duitama Regional Hospital during the period from January to March 2010. The main signs and symptoms were recordedby frequency of presentation, means for continuous variables and percentages for the discrete ones, with their respectiveconfidence intervals at 95%. There were carried out a stratified analysis by age, gender, tipe of diagnosis and histopathologicaldiagnosis. Results: 56.6% were males, mean age 27.9 years (SD=16.4); The most important symptoms found were abdominalpain (94.5%), migration of pain (65.6% ), vomiting (53.5%); as predominant signs: blumberg (59.4%), WBC> 12000 / mm3, andneutrophils >70 (70.7%); necrosis was associated with progression time greater than 48 hours, leukocytosis greater than 15 000/ mm3 and heart rate above 85 per minute. Conclusion: there are symptoms and signs of high value for the correct diagnosisof appendicitis: abdominal pain, migration of pain, rebound tenderness, leukocytosis and neutrophilia. It is recommended fortraining institutions, to establish mechanisms that emphasize medical training, for to obtain early diagnoses and to minimizethe risk of perforation, because early diagnosis depends on the ease of access to specialist care and diagnosis is mainlyclinical. (MÉD.UIS.2011; 24(2):151-7).Key words: Acute abdomen. Appendicitis. Clinical diagnosis.