Appendicitis—A Computer Study

Abstract

Pathologists and clerks at St. John's Hospital, Oxnard, California, coded on punch cards results of a study of 1,315 patients with appendicitis. Some observations this approach yielded were: 70 percent of patients were 30 years old or younger; the diagnostic accuracy was 77 percent; 6.4 percent of patients had complications, with older patients having more than their share; and the incidence of appendicitis varied little from season to season.