Significance of hemogram on diagnosis of acute appendicitis during pregnancy

Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common emergency surgical condition during pregnancy after obstetric and gynecological pathologies. Urgent and accurate diagnosis of AA in pregnant patients reduces maternal and fetal morbidity/mortality rates. This study evaluated the significance of hemogram to diagnose AA during pregnancy.

Forty-seven pregnant patients operated for AA in the Ordu or Ondokuz Mayis University Medical School Hospitals between January 2007 and December 2017 were compared with 47 healthy pregnant women in terms of hemogram parameters, including the white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) values. The operated group was evaluated based on post-operative pathologic results and subclassified into appendicitis positive (Group A) and appendicitis negative (Group B) groups. The subgroups were compared to the control group.

The WBC and neutrophil count and mean NLR and PLR values were significantly higher in Group A compared to Group B and the control group (p<0.001). The mean lymphocyte count was significantly lower in Group A compared to other groups (p<0.001). The MPV and RDW values and mean platelet count showed no significant difference between groups (p>0.05). When cutoff values for WBC, neutrophil count, NLR, PLR, and lymphocyte counts were set to >10300, >7950, >5.50, >155.2, and ≤1330, respectively, the sensitivity rates were 72.5%, 80%, 90%, 77.5% and 85%, whereas specificity rates were 72.3%, 79.7%, 89.4%, 74.5%, and 82.5%, respectively.

When comparing pregnant women diagnosed with AA to patients operated for suspected AA and healthy pregnant women, the WBC and neutrophil count and NLR and PLR values were found to be significantly higher, whereas lymphocyte counts were lower. In addition to medical history, physical examination and imaging techniques, hemogram parameters should be considered to diagnose AA in pregnant women.