The Diagnostic Accuracy of Preoperative Neutrophil-lymphocyte Ratio in Adult and Pediatric Patients in Predicting Complicated Appendicitis

Complicated Appendicitis (CA) correlates with a higher risk of postoperative morbidity, total length of hospital stay and significant financial burden to patients. Failure to promptly identify complicated cases from uncomplicated may lead to delay in surgery and consequent catastrophic intraabdominal abscess formation, perforation, peritonitis and surgical site infection. CA is an outcome of inflammation and bacterial overgrowth, thus, economical inflammatory markers such as Neutrophil- Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) may be used as a diagnostic tool thereby possibly avoiding expensive imaging, such as CT scans which may have limited availability and significant radiation risks.
Source: Journal of the American College of Surgeons - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: General Surgery Source Type: research