Right lower quadrant pain: Imaging with computed tomography

Computed tomography (CT) is a fast and accurate way to evaluate patients with acute right lower abdominopelvic pain. In the emergency setting, appendicitis is the most common etiology. A tailored CT examination can visualize the normal or abnormal appendix with accuracy, confirming or excluding appendicitis in 90–95% of cases. If the appendix is normal, CT often identifies an alternative etiology for the pain. This exhibit reviews the CT appearance of the normal appendix, usual and unusual presentations of appendicitis and complicated appendicitis, and pitfalls in diagnosis. The CT appearance of other conditions included in the differential diagnosis of acute right lower quadrant pain and clinically mimicking appendicitis is also presented, including disorders arising from the gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, and vascular and musculoskeletal systems.