Abstract

SANABRIA, Álvaro; BERMUDEZ, Charles; DOMINGUEZ, Luis Carlos  and  SERNA, Adriana. Value of the leukocite cell count in patients with abdominal pain suggesting appendicitis. rev. colomb. cir. [online]. 2007, vol.22, n.1, pp.13-16. ISSN 2011-7582.

Introduction: The leukocyte count and neutrophile percentage repeated determination in patients with abdominal pain suggesting acute appendicitis is a common practice in emergency services. Materials and methods: Initial and repeated control blood cell counts were performed in 32 patients subjected to observation in a cohort of 374. Results were compared using the Wilcoxon test for paired samples. Results: The value of the leukocyte and neutrophile repeated counts diminishes during the observation period, independent of the final outcome of the patient. Conclusions: The use of the repeated leukocyte and neutrophile count in patients suspected of having acute appendicitis that are subjected to observation does not seem to be useful to determine the final outcome of the patient.

Keywords : appendicitis; leukocytes; neutrophiles; differential diagnosis.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )