Evaluation of women with possible appendicitis using technetium-99m leukocyte scan.
 The authors evaluated the use of technetium-99m albumin colloid white blood cell (TAC-WBC) scan in women with possible appendicitis.
 One hundred and nine women underwent 110 TAC-WBC scans.
 One woman had a second scan on a separate admission and was considered two individual patients in the analysis.
 Twenty-six women had appendicitis, 10 of whom had a perforated appendix at surgery.
 The TAC-WBC scan was indeterminate (abnormal but nondiagnostic for appendicitis) in 52 women (47%), nine of whom had appendicitis.
 Fifty-eight scans were read as positive or negative for appendiceal pathology.
 There were 16 true positives, 5 false positives, 36 true negatives, and 1 false negative.
 The predictive value of a positive scan was 76%, and the predictive value of a negative scan was 97%.
 The TAC-WBC scan was positive in 62% of patients with appendicitis and negative in 43% of the patients without appendicitis resulting in an overall accuracy of 47% in the 109 women.
 The main value of TAC-WBC scan in women with possible appendicitis is its high negative predictive value and the main problem with the TAC-WBC scan is its high indeterminate rate.
