McBurney's point revisited - 100 years later - abstract

ABSTRACT

Because McBurney's original description was clinical rather than anatomical and because one of us found that at most operations the appendix was not in fact at McBurney's point, it was thought valuable to examine the validity of this well-known landmark. A prospective study of 100 post-evacuation barium enemas was done. With the patient supine, films were centered on McBurney's point, with an opaque skin marker at that point. In one patient, the base of the appendix was at McBurney's point. In 67 percent, it was cephalad, and in 32 percent, it was caudal to this point. The limitations of McBurney's point as an anatomical landmark should be recognised. This needs to be highlighted in teaching anatomy, especially to surgical trainees. Planning the choice of surgical incisions could be based on an understanding of the relative frequency of these anatomical variations (AU)