Acute appendicitis is the most common condition that presents with an acute abdomen needing emergency surgery. Despite this common presentation, correctly diagnosing appendicitis remains a challenge as clinical signs or positive blood results can be absent in 55% of the patients. The reported proportion of missed diagnoses of appendicitis ranges between 20% and 40%. A delay or mis-diagnosis of appendicitis can result in severe complications such as perforation, abscess formation, sepsis, and intra-abdominal adhesions. Literature has shown that patients who had a negative appendectomy suffer post-op complications and infections secondary to hospital stays; there have even been reported cases of fatality. It is therefore crucial that timely and accurate diagnosis of appendicitis is achieved to avoid complications of both non-operating as well as unnecessary surgical intervention. The aim of this review is to systematically report and analyse the latest evidence on the different approaches used in diagnosing appendicitis. We include discussions of clinical scoring systems, laboratory tests, latest innovative bio-markers and radiological imaging.

The clinical presentation of diversion colitis varies significantly. In symptomatic patients short chain fatty acid enema may help. Further prospective studies are required for evaluation.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic used to treat many cancers, including breast cancer, leukemia, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Positive aspects of DOX use are limited by the cardiomyopathy that it may cause. For this reason, it is crucial to uncover effective treatments against DOX-induced cardiomyopathy (DIC). Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in DIC, and this understanding has helped guide potential treatments for DIC. The purpose of this study was to review and describe current and emerging treatments for DIC and their potential cardioprotective effects against DIC. The goals were to: (1) provide a single-source report to aid clinicians in exploring different treatment plans that are personalized for their patients and (2) stimulate researchers to consider evaluating promising and emerging treatment modalities. Evolving understanding of DIC pathophysiology remains fundamental in elucidating the course for future medical therapies. The main conclusion of this study was that the use of existing pharmaceutical agents might represent a possible approach towards mitigating DIC with more extensive clinical data. A limitation of all reviewed studies was that none included an experimental model in which DOX was used to treat animals with preexisting cancer. This limitation fails to identify the impacts that cancer may play in DIC pathophysiology and the potential mitigating effects of DIC treatments. Future research should consider this limitation with appropriately revised protocols.

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