Background: Acute appendicitis (AA) has a prevalence of 8% in the general population with a rate of complicated (perforated) appendicitis (CA) up to 40%. Serum fibrinogen may serve as an indicator for CA.
Patients and methods: 115 patients were included from January 2012 to December 2012 using a positive pathology report for AA as a gold standard diagnostic method. We divided the patients into two groups accordingly to the pathology report: Complicated Appendicitis and Uncomplicated Appendicitis (UA). Our primary endpoint was to compare the levels of serum fibrinogen between the two groups and find if there is a relationship between fibrinogen level and CA.
Results: 68 patients were diagnosed with UA and 47 with CA. Using a fibrinogen value of 885 mg/dl we found to be the best cut-off for predicting complicated appendicitis with a sensitivity of 86.77% (76.87-93.71 IC 95%), a specificity of 91.49 (83.51-99.46 IC 95%), a positive predictive value of 93.65 (95% CI 86.81-99.64) and, a negative predictive value of 82.69 (95% CI 65.73-87.84).
Conclusion: In the setting of a patient with a clinical diagnosis of AA, this study demonstrates fibrinogen as a good predictor factor for appendiceal perforation.
Keywords: Acute appendicitis; Complicated appendicitis; Fibrinogen.
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