Blood test for appendicitis

A blood test for appendicitis is not the main and not the only way to diagnose the presence of acute inflammatory process, but an experienced surgeon will certainly use it as a means to make sure assumptions.

The indicator on which the primary attention is paid is the number of leukocytes. The normal content is an individual figure, but it should fluctuate within the boundaries of the conditional norm and be 4.0-9.0 × 109 in a liter of blood.

A blood test for appendicitis, not in every person, will show an increased level of leukocytes. This is only evidence of the development of an inflammatory process in the body.

Diagnosis of appendicitis is a difficult path to finding the truth, which takes into account several components.

Blood counts give a basis for assumptions, and not a definitive answer: the diagnosis is appendicitis, if other signs do not indicate it.

Diagnosis of acute appendicitis: existing methods

In case of suspicion of appendicitis, regardless of the age and sex of the patient, timely performed reliable diagnostics is one of the main conditions for timely cure and the main means of avoiding complications.

The surgeon certainly uses several methods, because appendicitis, especially in the early stages, can give vague and uncharacteristic symptoms.

They easily fit into the clinical picture of food poisoning or the manifestation of diseases of the digestive system existing in the body.

In the diagnosis of acute appendicitis, a complex method is used, which includes:

• preliminary visual examination of the patient and collection of anamnesis, which provide the basis for initial assumptions;
• a more detailed study of existing symptoms, including palpation and percussion of the abdomen to highlight the characteristic signs characteristic only of this disease;
• laboratory diagnostics, including several types of research (urine and blood analysis, bacteriological research (express diagnostics of microflora, gas-liquid chromatography);
• instrumental research methods - ultrasound of the appendix, CT, MRI;
• laparoscopy, carried out using a microcamera, which is inserted into the abdominal cavity through a small incision in the skin, at the site of the alleged development of the pathological process.

Laboratory tests for any pathology manifested in the abdominal cavity help in abdominal surgery to diagnose the presence of inflammation, if a general blood test is performed, and carry out differential diagnostics for the presence of urological processes, when prescribed Analysis of urine.

In laboratory methods, with appendicitis in children, elderly patients and pregnant women, the functions are somewhat narrowed, because in these cases, inflammation of the appendix can give an uncharacteristic picture.

Laboratory diagnosis of an emergency

A blood test is always prescribed by a surgeon if acute appendicitis is suspected, but this is not the only laboratory diagnostic method.

When deciding on an operation for appendicitis, three types of laboratory tests are mandatory and they must be urgently carried out:

• a general blood test, in which the surgeon looks at the leukocyte counts to determine the discrepancy with the level of the existing norm of leukocytes;
• urinalysis to carry out differential diagnosis from diseases of the genitourinary system, revealing leukocyturia and erythrocyturia;
• bacteriological examination, which, in the presence of exudate in the abdominal cavity, is taken for sowing, and when it is absence are removed from the visceral peritoneum of the appendix, and is carried out, ideally, in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

If necessary, a second blood test is prescribed, since in about 1% of patients it is not changed at the initial stage of the development of the disease.

It is needed at a later stage to confirm the previous diagnosis - appendicitis.

With the development of postoperative complications or diffuse peritonitis, biochemical a detailed blood test to determine the existing lesions of the parenchymal organs and their process development.

General in the appointment of a blood test

A blood test for appendicitis in any category of patients is a mandatory laboratory test.

He is appointed in each case when the surgeon has reason to make a preliminary diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

Determination of the leukocyte indicators existing at the time of the examination makes it possible to determine their discrepancies with the concept of conditionally normal: 4.0-9.0 × 109. in a liter of blood.

The number of leukocytes at different stages of the development of pathology can be variable indicators:

• at the catarrhal stage, appendicitis shows a slight deviation from the norm, or it is not observed, (then the patient is placed in a hospital and repeated blood tests are taken to track the dynamics increase);
• subsequent stages of development (phlegmonous, gangrenous, perforated) show a high level of leukocytes, reaching, in some cases, up to 18 or more, which in acute appendicitis gives reason for immediate operations;
• if the leukocytes in the blood exceed 20, an increase in the number of leukocytes to such a mark for the surgeon means the development complications of acute appendicitis, therefore, antibiotic therapy is prescribed and emergency surgical intervention.

Elevated leukocytes with appendicitis in an adult is an indicator that cannot be considered reliable the fact of confirmation of inflammation, and does not serve as the only basis for a diagnosis appendicitis.

There are special cases where normal levels are present even in destructive forms of surgical disease.

A shift in leukocytes, which reliably indicates the presence of inflammation, may be absent in elderly patients (sometimes they even have no characteristic pain).

An increased number of leukocytes is also observed in genitourinary pathologies, when even the clinical picture and accompanying symptoms resemble inflammation in the abdominal cavity.

It is quite easy to suspect appendicitis in such cases, therefore laboratory tests are not are limited to a blood test, and a urine test is prescribed as a way of performing differential diagnostics.

Blood test for appendicitis in different categories of patients

Despite the mandatory presence of a blood test in the medical history of any patient with suspected an inflammatory process in the abdominal cavity, it is not a fundamental factor in the appointment of an operation with a diagnosis appendicitis.

This is only an auxiliary tool in carrying out a general diagnostic study, which makes it possible to make a certain assumption in the aggregate of data.

There are more accurate and modern studies, for example, ultrasound of the appendix, computed tomography or laparoscopy, which make it possible to set the indications for surgery by almost 99.9%

A surgeon is a person with experience and practical knowledge, which take into account the following circumstances:

• with appendicitis in children, the neutrophilic leukocyte count is not a reliable source if viewed from the point of view of the generally accepted adult norm, because children's indicators are normally higher than adults by more than 2 times;
• in young children, the norm of the level of leukocytes depends on age, and even in a teenager it is a significant excess compared to adults;
• individual characteristics of development can lead to the fact that a young patient will have a normal level of leukocytes even with a destructive form of appendicitis;
• elderly patients may not have an increase due to age-related changes in resistance;
• in pregnant women, leukocytes are determined with extreme caution, because the clinical picture can be distorted by the level of hCG.

A blood test is a mandatory laboratory test, which is carried out in case of suspicion of acute appendicitis, to determine the level of leukocytes, which increases with the existing inflammatory process.

It cannot be the only reason for prescribing an operation, but it is part of the prescribed protocol, and in some cases it makes it possible to obtain an objective clinical picture.

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