Correlation between perforated appendicitis and total bilirubin

Abstract

Aim: In this study, we aimed to examine to what extent total bilirubin (TB) measurements can help us in diagnosing perforatedappendicitis.Material and Methods: The TB levels of the patients for whom a surgery was planned with a preliminary diagnosis of appendicitis,were measured and then recorded. The patients with a TB level of 1.20 mg/dL and below were considered “normal”, and those with aTB value of 1.21 mg/dL and above were considered “high”. The appendectomy materials were divided into three groups, namely nonappendicitis,perforated appendicitis and non-perforated appendicitis, according to postoperative pathology report. The statisticalcorrelation between the postoperative pathological findings of appendectomy materials and the groups formed according to TBresults was analyzed.Results: Of the patients included in our study, 80 (46%) were female and 96 (54%) were male. The average age was 27.48±12.08years, and the median age was 25 years. As per the pathology report, 15 patients had no appendicitis (negative laparotomy), 2 (13%)of whom had a high TB level whereas 24 patients had perforated appendicitis, 8 (33%) of whom had a high TB level and 135 patientshad non-perforated appendicitis, 28 (21%) of whom had a high TB level.Conclusion: Our study found that the TB level in perforated appendicitis was 1.6 times higher than that in non-perforated appendicitisand 2.5 times higher than that in negative laparatomies. The bilirubin value differences between the groups were statisticallysignificant (p< 0.05).