Appendicitis is one of the most common reasons for emergency abdominal surgery in children. Appendicitis patients have complaints that are common with many conditions and diseases. Therefore, early and accurate diagnosis of acute appendicitis is important in avoiding morbidity and associated complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of hyperbilirubinemia in both the diagnosis of acute appendicitis and in distinguishing the severity of appendicitis in children. This retrospective study included 242 patients, 118 of whom had surgery for appendicitis and 124 who were admitted with suspected appendicitis between January 2011 and February 2015. Age, gender, preoperative plasma total bilirubin levels and pathological examination reports from patients files were recorded. Patients with appendicitis were labelled as Group I. Patients with non-perforated appendicitis were in Group IA and patients with perforated appendicitis were in Group IB. Group II consisted of 124 patients who were hospitalized with suspected appendicitis but were discharged without an appendectomy. A statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of mean plasma total bilirubin levels (between group comparisons for Groups I and II, p = 0.007). According to the comparison of the subgroups with respect to the mean plasma total bilirubin levels, a statistically significant difference was not observed between subgroups IA and IB (p = 0.770). The present study indicates that plasma total bilirubin levels are not a reliable marker in either the diagnosis of appendicitis or the differentiation of perforated appendicitis from non-perforated appendicitis in children.
Key words: Appendicitis, children, total bilirubin levels
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