Investigating the Diagnostic Value of Serum Calprotectin Level in Patients With Acute Appendicitis

Appendicitis is one of the main causes of acute abdominal surgery; however, the accurate diagnosis of appendicitis has remained uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the serum calprotectin as a diagnostic indicator for acute appendicitis. This prospective study was conducted on 79 patients suspected of acute appendicitis who underwent an appendectomy and 70 healthy volunteers. The correlation of serum calprotectin level and histopathological results was investigated. Screening performance characteristics of calprotectin (CP) were calculated on patients suspected with acute appendicitis. The mean serum calprotectin level in the patients was 0.791±0.148 mg/dl with a minimum of 0.567 mg/dl and a maximum of 1.26 mg/dl. The serum calprotectin ranged from 0.10 mg/dl to 0.50 mg/l in the healthy group. The AUC of CP was 0.58 (95% CI: 0.43-0.73). At a 0.72 mg/dl cutoff value, CP had 70% (95% CI: 58-82) sensitivity and 50% (95% CI: 39-61) specificity. According to the main finding of our study, the accuracy and sensitivity of serum CP in the detection of patients with acute appendicitis is good, and it seems that it can be used beside clinical symptoms for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.