Inflammatory Markers and Duration of Symptoms Have a Close Connection With Diagnosis and Staging of Acute Appendicitis in Children

Background: For children with acute appendicitis (AA), a clear diagnosis is a challenge. The purpose of this study is to explore whether inflammatory markers in the blood combined with symptom duration are helpful in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis and in predicting the severity of acute appendicitis. Methods: All the selected patients underwent appendectomy between November 10, 2011 and November 15, 2019, in whom preoperative WBCC, CRP, and NE% had been measured in a short time. All patients were divided into two groups: uncomplicated AA and complicated AA, postoperatively. Results: For our standards, 813 patients were selected, 442 of them had complicated AA. The mean [standard deviation (SD)] age for the uncomplicated AA group was 9.78 ± 2.02 years and for the complicated AA group was 9.69 ± 2.16 years (P = 0.55). Elevated WBCC, CRP, and NE% had a higher relatively sensitivity in complicated AA than uncomplicated AA especially when WBCC, CRP, and NE% were at normal levels, which had a sensitivity of 100% in uncomplicated AA, but this only applied to nine patients. CRP values were significantly different in three time groups, whether uncomplicated or complicated AA. Conclusion: The combination of WBCC, CRP, and NE% values is very sensitive for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis, and when we predict complicated AA using the CRP value, we also need to consider the time of symptom onset.