Sandeep Kumar Goyal1 , Vilkram Saini2 , Minaxi Saini3 , Gopal Singhal4 , Kanishak Mehta5 , Nitish6
BACKGROUND Diagnosis of acute appendicitis is always a challenging task in emergency ward which can most of the time be diagnosed with thorough history and physical examination by surgeon, various clinical signs and laboratory investigations like total leukocyte count (TLC), neutrophils shift to left. Unnecessary surgical interventions of appendix can be reduced by precise diagnosis of levels of TLC and total serum bilirubin values. We wanted to evaluate the sensitivity of laboratory marker like TLC and liver function tests in diagnosing a case of appendicitis and complicated appendicitis. METHODS 100 patients who were admitted in the Department of General Surgery, Maharaja Agrasen Medical Collage, Agroha (Hisar), with clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis were included in the study. Data was statistically analysed and sensitivity of TLC and liver function test in diagnosing acute appendicitis was compared. RESULTS Sensitivity of TLC was found to be 47 %; that of total serum bilirubin was 72 % which is significant; that of SGOT was 26 %; that of SGPT was 21 % and that of ALP was 8 % in diagnosing acute appendicitis. While comparing sensitivity of this marker to diagnose complicated appendicitis (gangrenous and perforated appendix) it was 56.3 % for TLC, 100 % for total serum bilirubin, 31.3 % for SGOT, 37.5 % for SGPT and 12.5 % for ALP. CONCLUSIONS Raised total serum bilirubin has potential to detect complications of appendicitis and the need for early intervention by surgeon.
