This version was machine-translated from German and has not been medically reviewed. The authoritative version is the German version.

pARC – Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator

Probability of appendicitis (5–18 years) from sex, age, duration of pain, findings and neutrophil count (Kharbanda 2018)

Child

Sex

male female

Age

History and findings

Duration of pain

Derived for pain lasting up to 96 hours; pARC is not validated for longer durations.

Pain when walking, coughing or hopping

Migration of pain to the right lower abdomen

Maximal tenderness in the right lower abdomen

Guarding

Laboratory (at least one value, otherwise cohort mean)

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) (G/l)

Leukocytes (if no ANC available) (G/l)

Calculation aid for healthcare professionals: the calculator reproduces what the sources cited assign to the inputs. Clinical assessment and every treatment decision remain with the treating physician. Inputs and results are not stored.

Frequently asked questions

pARC – Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator: What does this calculator compute?

Uses the logistic regression of the Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (Kharbanda 2018, AUC 0.85) to calculate the probability of appendicitis in children aged 5–18 years with acute abdominal pain and assigns it to seven risk classes; a missing neutrophil count is imputed from the leukocyte count.

pARC – Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator: Which sources is this calculator based on?

Kharbanda AB, Vazquez-Benitez G, Ballard DW, et al.: Development and Validation of a Novel Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC) (Pediatrics 141:e20172699) (2018)