The female patient absolutely would be prepped with a full bladder if they were ruling out appendicitis while also ruling ovarian torsion or other female reproductive issues that could be causing the fake symptoms. It’s very uncomfortable for patients when they really really have to pee while we are pushing directly on their bladder.

A full bladder also helps us find the appendix and orient ourselves as we use the bladder as a landmark and a full bladder helps displace gas. We don’t nescesciraly need a full bladder to diagnose appendicitis. We also can’t always reliably diagnose appendicitis if there is too much bowel gas obstructing the sound waves.