Advantages | Disadvantages | |
US | No ionizing radiation | Lower diagnostic accuracy than CT or MRI |
Widely available, including at the bedside | Patient- and operator-dependent variability in diagnostic performance | |
High rates of indeterminate examinations with 50 to 85% of normal appendices not visualized[1,2] | ||
CT | High diagnostic accuracy | Ionizing radiation |
Lowest rates of indeterminate examinations with 80 to 90% of normal appendix visualized[3,4,5] | Intravenous iodinated contrast needed for optimum diagnostic performance | |
MRI | No ionizing radiation | Limited availability |
High diagnostic accuracy | Requires patient to lie still in an enclosed scanner for 10 to 30 minutes | |
Moderate rates of nondiagnostic examinations with 20 to 30% normal appendices not visualized[6] |
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