Procalcitonin as the Biomarker of Inflammation in Diagnosis of Appendicitis in Pediatric Patients and Prevention of Unnecessary Appendectomies

Numerous diseases mimic appendicitis, and it is often difficult to rule it out on the basis of clinical presentation. Concentration of procalcitonin selectively increases in inflammatory conditions and determination of its level can help in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. A prospective, single centre based observational study carried out at our tertiary care institute. Twenty eight patients were admitted with preliminary diagnosis of acute appendicitis. The control group involved around 12 healthy children. Serum Procalcitonin concentration was measured in all patients using the 'Immunoluminometric Method' (LUMI- Test PCT), besides carrying out clinical examination and other investigations. The serums PCT comes out to be a better diagnostic test than serum CRP measurement as serum PCT was able to differentiate patients who came with abdominal pain but were having normal appendix from the patients who were actual cases of acute appendicitis. In patients with histologically confirmed acute appendicitis the level of PCT was above the normal value of 0.5 ng/ml in most cases. The analysis of procalcitonin in different groups of patients showed the serum procalcitonin test having high sensitivity of 95.65% and a specificity of about 100% on the basis of histopathological diagnosis of the removed appendix taking as the standard. The serum procalcitonin test when combined with reliable clinical signs and symptoms is an excellent diagnostic marker of the disease and should be done in the patients of pediatric appendicitis so that proper handling of the patient can be done and we can prevent unnecessary appendectomies.