Poor Specificity of Two Novel Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Pediatric Appendicitis

In a prospective cross-sectional study, researchers assessed the association between appendicitis and serum and urine levels of two novel inflammatory markers — calprotectin and leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein-1 (LRG) — in 176 children (age range, 3–18 years) with suspected appendicitis who presented to a pediatric emergency department (ED) with acute abdominal pain of <96 hours duration.

Appendicitis was diagnosed by histopathology in 58 patients (34%); 15 patients had perforated appendicitis. Median levels of calprotectin (plasma) and LRG (serum and urine) were significantly higher in patients with appendicitis than in those without appendicitis and in those with perforated appendixes than in those with nonperforated appendixes. In recursive…