HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA MIGHT BE A MARKER OF GANGRENOUS/PERFORATED APPENDICITIS: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY / Мэс засал

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Delayed or wrong diagnosisin patients with appendicitis can result inperforation and consequently increasedmorbidity and mortality. Serum total bilirubinmay be a useful marker for appendicealperforation. The aim of this study wasto determine and compare pre-operativetotal bilirubin level and other diagnostictools (patient age, duration of symptoms,Alvarado score, white blood cell, C-reactiveprotein, ultrasound and contrast enchancedCT scan) in cases of acute appendicitis inorder to improve the clinical decision making.Materialsand methods: We identified102 patient with acute appendicitis afterexcluding those with other causes ofhyperbilirubinemia among the 180 patientsthat underwent a laparoscopic or an openappendectomy from June, 2011 to March,2015 in UB Songdo Private Hospital.These cases were also subjected toliver function tests and clinical diagnosiswas confirmed perioperatively and postoperativelyby histopathological examination.According to histological results, these caseswere classified two groups positive(acuteappendicitis with perforation and/organgrene) and negative(acute appendicitiswithout perforation or gangrene). Theirclinical and investigative data were compiledand analyzed. Statistical analysis wasperformed using independent sample t test,Chi square test, and direct logistic regression.The level of significance was set at P< 0.05.Results: Serum total bilirubin was foundto be significantly increased(1,5mg/dL) incase of negative group and much higher(3,6mg/dL) in cases of positive group (P<0.001). The level of total bilirubin washigher than 3 mg/dL in cases of gangrenous/perforated appendicitis while in cases withacute appendicitis it was lower than 3 mg/dL. Also Alvarado score (P <0.01), C-reactiveprotein (P <0.001) and contrast enchanced CTscan (P <0.05) were statistically significantdiagnostic tools for acute appendicitis.Conclusion: Assessment of preoperativetotal bilirubin is useful for the differentialdiagnosis of gangrenous/perforatedappendicitis.