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Clinical and laboratory methods in diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children

Mojca Groselj-Grenc1, Stane Repse, Dubravka Vidmar

  • 1Department of Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care, University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Croatian Medical Journal
|June 26, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Ultrasonography is the most accurate method for diagnosing acute appendicitis in children, outperforming clinical examination and common lab tests like IL-6. This imaging technique should be integrated into diagnostic protocols for pediatric appendicitis.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Clinical Pathology

Background:

  • Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency in children.
  • Accurate and timely diagnosis is crucial to prevent complications.
  • Current diagnostic methods include clinical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the diagnostic accuracy of various methods for acute appendicitis in children.
  • To evaluate ultrasonography against clinical assessment and laboratory markers (WBC, CRP, IL-6).

Main Methods:

  • A study involving 82 children with suspected acute appendicitis.
  • Comparison of clinical signs, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and ultrasonography.
  • Surgical confirmation for 49 children; non-surgical diagnosis for 33.

Main Results:

  • Ultrasonography demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy (92.9%), specificity (95.2%), and predictive values.
  • Interleukin-6 (IL-6) showed moderate accuracy (77.6%), outperforming clinical signs (69.5%) and C-reactive protein (63.7%).
  • Clinical signs had the highest sensitivity (93.9%).

Conclusions:

  • Ultrasonography is a superior diagnostic tool for acute appendicitis in children compared to IL-6 and other routine tests.
  • The integration of ultrasonography into the diagnostic pathway for pediatric appendicitis is recommended.
Abstract

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