The Diagnostic Value of C-Reactive Protein and Total Leucocytes Count in Patients with Acute Abdominal Pain In Children

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the acute-phase proteins which increases during inflammatory conditions. Nowadays, C-reactive protein (CRP) is a commonly used biomarker especially in emergency department (ED) for diagnostics of febrile and infectious patients. It is almost impossible to distinguish the bacterial from nonbacterial (viral) infection by CRP level only so the detailed history of onset of disease is very important to establish the diagnosis of bacterial infection as a cause of acute abdominal pain. Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the diagnostic value of leucocyte and CRP count in in diagnosing acute abdominal pain. Material and methods: We retrospectively evaluated 159 patients with acute abdominal pain admitted to the surgical department of the Clinical Hospital of Tetova and PHO “Alba – Med” over a period of 2 years respectively from January 20016 to January 2018. All patients included in this study was aged between five to 15 years old. Results: During the study period there were 158 patients (96 were females and 56 males). All the patients suffered from acute abdominal pain, whereas 45 of them had a surgical condition, respectively in 42 of them acute appendicitis as a cause of pain, Meckel’s diverticulitis, jejunal intussusception and ruptured ovarian cyst in three other patients. In 105 patients nonsurgical condition was the reason of acute abdominal pain. CRP was performed within 24 h after admission in all the patients. In the group of patients with surgical disease in 41 of them (91 %) the value of CRP was more than > 5g/L. Conclusions: According to our experience we conclude that the CRP level is not sufficient to predict patients with acute abdominal pain that require surgical treatment.