Value of Fibrinogen to Discriminate Appendicitis from Nonspecific Abdominal Pain in Preschool Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (04) ◽  
pp. 357-363
Author(s):  
Javier Gómez-Veiras ◽  
Ángel Salgado-Barreira ◽  
José Luis Vázquez ◽  
Margarita Montero-Sánchez ◽  
José Ramón Fernández-Lorenzo ◽  
...  

Introduction The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of the biomarker fibrinogen (FB), along with the markers white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and C-reactive protein (CRP), to discriminate appendicitis from nonspecific abdominal pain (NSAP) in preschool children. Materials and Methods We prospectively evaluated all children aged <5 years admitted for suspected appendicitis at an academic pediatric emergency department during 5 years. Diagnostic accuracy of FB (prothrombin time–derived method), WBC, ANC, and CRP were assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristic curve. Results A total of 82 patients were enrolled in the study (27 NSAP, 17 uncomplicated, and 38 complicated appendicitides). WBC and ANC had moderate diagnostic accuracy for appendicitis versus NSAP (WBC: AUC 0.66, ANC: AUC 0.67). CRP and FB had good diagnostic accuracy for appendicitis versus NSAP (CRP: AUC 0.78, FB: AUC 0.77). WBC and ANC are not useful to discriminate complicated versus uncomplicated appendicitis (WBC: AUC 0.43, ANC: AUC 0.45). CPR and FB had good diagnostic accuracy for complicated versus uncomplicated appendicitis (CRP: AUC 0.80, FB: AUC 0.73). Conclusion CRP and FB are more useful than WBC and ANC to discriminate appendicitis from NSAP in preschool children. CRP and FB are especially useful to discriminate complicated from uncomplicated appendicitis and NSAP. In a child with suspected appendicitis, a plasma FB level (prothrombin time–derived method) >540 mg/dL is associated with an increased likelihood of complicated appendicitis.

Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Jun-Gyu Lee ◽  
Hyung-Sun Peo ◽  
Jang-Hyuk Cho ◽  
Chul-Hyun Cho ◽  
Don-Kyu Kim ◽  
...  

The diagnostic value of ultrasonography (US) for frozen shoulder (FS) is not well established. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of US measurement of inferior joint capsule (IJC) thickness and evaluate changes in the thickness of the IJC by US depending on arm position. A total of 71 patients with clinically diagnosed unilateral FS who underwent bilateral US measurement of the IJC were enrolled in this study. The US measurement of the IJC was performed with a linear transducer positioned around the anterior axillary line with the shoulder 40° abducted and with neutral rotation of the glenohumeral joint (neutral position). We also measured the IJC thickness in the externally rotated and internally rotated positions with the shoulder 40° abducted. In the neutral position, as well as in the internally rotated and externally rotated positions, the thickness of the IJC on US was significantly higher in the affected shoulder than that in the unaffected shoulder (all p < 0.001). On both the affected and unaffected sides, the US thickness of the IJC in the neutral position was significantly higher than that in the externally rotated position (p < 0.001), but lower than that in the internally rotated position (p < 0.001). Regarding IJC thickness in the neutral position, a 3.2-mm cutoff value yielded the highest diagnostic accuracy for FS, with a sensitivity and specificity of 73.2% and 77.5%, respectively. The area under the curve for IJC thickness was 0.824 (95% confidence interval, 0.76–0.89). US measurement of the IJC in the neutral position yielded good diagnostic accuracy for FS. Because IJC thickness is affected by arm rotation, it is important to measure the IJC thickness in a standardized posture to ensure diagnostic value.


Lupus ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 096120332110142
Author(s):  
Jung Sun Lee ◽  
Eun-Ju Lee ◽  
Jeonghun Yeom ◽  
Ji Seon Oh ◽  
Seokchan Hong ◽  
...  

Objective The need for a biomarker with robust sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remains unmet. Compared with blood samples, urine samples are more easily collected; thus, we aimed to identify such a biomarker based on urinary proteomics which could distinguish patients with SLE from healthy controls (HCs). Methods Urine samples were collected from 76 SLE patients who visited rheumatology clinic in 2019 at Asan medical center and from 25 HCs. Urine proteins were analyzed using sequential windowed acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra-mass spectrometry, and the candidate marker was confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the diagnostic value of the candidate biomarker. Results Of 1157 proteins quantified, 153 were differentially expressed in urine samples from HCs. Among them were previously known markers including α-1-acid glycoprotein 1, α-2-HS-glycoprotein, ceruloplasmin, and prostaglandin-H2 D-isomerase. Moreover, the amount of β-2 glycoprotein (APOH) was increased in the urine of patients with SLE. The ELISA results also showed the level of urine APOH was higher in patients with SLE than in HCs and patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the level was not different between SLE patients with and without nephritis. The urine APOH had an area under the curve value of 0.946 at a cut-off value of 228.53 ng/mg (sensitivity 91.5%, specificity 92.0%) for the diagnosis of SLE. Conclusion The results indicate that the urine APOH level can be an appropriate screening tool in a clinical setting when SLE is suspected.


2021 ◽  
pp. jim-2021-001785
Author(s):  
Rasha A Elkholy ◽  
Reham L Younis ◽  
Alzahraa A Allam ◽  
Rasha Youssef Hagag ◽  
Muhammad Tarek Abdel Ghafar

This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of serum and urinary netrin-1 in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at different stages of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and to compare its efficacy of estimation in serum with that in the urine. This study was carried out on 135 patients with T2DM and 45 healthy subjects. The patients with diabetes were divided according to urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR) into: T2DM with normoalbuminuria, incipient DN with microalbuminuria, and overt DN with macroalbuminuria groups. Serum and urinary levels of netrin-1 were measured by ELISA. The mean levels of serum and urinary netrin-1 were significantly higher in the microalbuminuric and macroalbuminuric patients with DN than those in the normoalbuminuric patients with T2DM, with the highest values detected in macroalbuminuric patients with DN. Urinary netrin-1 level was significantly higher in the normoalbuminuric T2DM group than control group, whereas no significant difference existed regarding serum netrin-1 level. In T2DM groups, the urinary and serum netrin-1 correlated with each other and were independently related to fasting blood glucose, UACR, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of urinary netrin-1 was 0.916 which is significantly higher than that of serum netrin-1 (0.812) for the detection of incipient DN and reached 0.938 on coestimation of both urinary and serum netrin-1. In conclusion, netrin-1 is a potential diagnostic marker for early detection of DN with its estimation in urine has higher accuracy than that of serum.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideyuki Iwayama ◽  
Sachiko Kitagawa ◽  
Jyun Sada ◽  
Ryosuke Miyamoto ◽  
Tomohito Hayakawa ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) for screening growth hormone deficiency (GHD) to determine the usefulness of IGF-1 as a screening test. Methods On 298 consecutive children who had short stature or decreased height velocity, we measured IGF-1 levels and performed growth hormone (GH) secretion test using clonidine, arginine, and, in cases with different results of the two tests, L-dopa. Patients with congenital abnormalities were excluded. GHD was defined as peak GH ≤ 6.0 ng/mL in the two tests. Results We identified 60 and 238 patients with and without GHD, respectively. The mean IGF-1 (SD) was not significantly different between the GHD and non-GHD groups (p = 0.23). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated the best diagnostic accuracy at an IGF-1 cutoff of −1.493 SD, with sensitivity of 0.685, specificity of 0.417, positive predictive value of 0.25, negative predictive value of 0.823, and area under the curve of 0.517. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient showed that IGF-1 (SD) was weakly correlated with age, bone age, height velocity before examination, weight (SD), and BMI (SD) and very weakly correlated with height (SD), target height (SD), and maximum GH peak. Conclusion IGF-1 level had poor diagnostic accuracy as a screening test for GHD. Correlation analysis revealed that none of the items increased the diagnostic power of IGF-1. Therefore, IGF-1 should not be used alone in the screening of GHD. A predictive biomarker for GHD should be developed in the future.


2020 ◽  
pp. 028418512092790
Author(s):  
Jeanette Henkelmann ◽  
Kristina Bremicker ◽  
Timm Denecke ◽  
Karl-Titus Hoffmann ◽  
Ralf Henkelmann ◽  
...  

Background Despite the high sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), early detection of spondylodiscitis (SpD) remains challenging due to its low specificity. Purpose To assess the diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in suspected cases of SpD with ambiguous early MRI findings in the differentiation of degenerative disorders (DD). Material and Methods In this prospective study, 52 patients suspected of having SpD underwent a whole-spine 3-T MRI scan comprising sagittal DWI. Of 58 conspicuous, T2-weighted, signal increased discs, 39 were successfully evaluated using DWI. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and ADC maps were blindly analyzed using the region of interest of the conspicuous disc and a normal adjacent reference disc. Intraindividual ratios (conspicuous disc: reference disc) were calculated. Results All conspicuous discs showed increased absolute ADC values, which did not differ significantly between SpD (n = 22) and DD (n = 17). However, ADC ratio was significantly higher in SpD vs. DD ( P < 0.05). In receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, an ADC ratio threshold of 1.6 resulted in 45% sensitivity and 88% specificity (area under the curve = 0.69) for SpD diagnosis. Conclusion The absolute ADC value does not provide a reliable diagnosis of SpD. Increased diffusivity can be an indication of infection but should always be discussed in the context of existing disc degeneration.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Wong ◽  
Samuel D. Relton ◽  
Victoria Lane ◽  
Mohamed Ismail ◽  
Victoria Goss ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There is no definitive method of accurately diagnosing appendicitis before surgery. We evaluated the feasibility of collecting breath samples in children with abdominal pain and gathered preliminary data on the accuracy of breath tests. Methods We conducted a prospective pilot study at a large tertiary referral paediatric hospital in the UK. We recruited 50 participants with suspected appendicitis, aged between 5 and 15 years. Five had primary diagnosis of appendicitis. The primary outcome was the number of breath samples collected. We also measured the number of samples processed within 2 h and had CO2 ≥ 3.5%. Usability was assessed by patient-reported pain pre- and post-sampling and user-reported sampling difficulty. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict appendicitis and evaluated using the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC). Results Samples were collected from all participants. Of the 45 samples, 36 were processed within 2 h. Of the 49 samples, 19 had %CO2 ≥ 3.5%. No difference in patient-reported pain was observed (p = 0.24). Sampling difficulty was associated with patient age (p = 0.004). The logistic regression model had AUROC = 0.86. Conclusions Breath tests are feasible and acceptable to patients presenting with abdominal pain in clinical settings. We demonstrated adequate data collection with no evidence of harm to patients. The AUROC was better than a random classifier; more specific sensors are likely to improve diagnostic performance. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03248102. Registered 14 Aug 2017.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangfeng Wu ◽  
Yue Sun ◽  
Yunlai Wang ◽  
Lijing Ge ◽  
Yun Jin ◽  
...  

Aims: In the present study, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) elastography for differentiating benign and malignant hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes (LNs). Material and methods: A comprehensive literature search was carried out through PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Two authors screened the papers and extracted the data independently and any discrepancies were resolved by discussion. The methodolog-ical quality of each included study was assessed by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and area under the curve were calculated to evaluate the value of EBUS elastography for hilar and mediastinal LNs. Results: Seventeen studies with the number of 2307 LNs were included. There was significant heterogeneity across the included studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio for the diagnosis of hilar and mediastinal LNs by EBUS elastography were 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-0.94), 0.78 (95% CI, 0.74-0.81), 4.1 (95% CI, 3.4-4.9), 0.12 (95% CI, 0.07-0.21) and 33 (95% CI, 17-64), respectively. Furthermore, area under the curve was calculated to be 0.86 (95% CI, 0.82-0.88). Conclusion: EBUS elastography is a valuable technology in the differentiation of benign and malignant hilar and mediastinal LNs and could provide supplementary diagnostic information during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. The combination of EBUS elastography and B-mode EBUS could improve the diagnostic accuracy for hilar and mediastinal LNs.


Author(s):  
Francesco D’Amore ◽  
Farida Grinberg ◽  
Jörg Mauler ◽  
Norbert Galldiks ◽  
Ganna Blazhenets ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Radiological differentiation of tumour progression (TPR) from treatment-related changes (TRC) in pre-treated glioblastoma is crucial. This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value of diffusion kurtosis MRI combined with information derived from O-(2-[ 18F]-fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ( 18F-FET) PET for the differentiation of TPR from TRC in patients with pre-treated glioblastoma. Methods Thirty-two patients with histomolecularly defined and pre-treated glioblastoma suspected of having TPR were included in this retrospective study. Twenty-one patients were included in the TPR group, and 11 patients in the TRC group, as assessed by neuropathology or clinicoradiological follow-up. 3D regions-of-interest were generated based on increased 18F-FET uptake using a brain-to-tumour ratio of 1.6. Furthermore, diffusion MRI kurtosis maps were obtained from the same regions-of-interests using co-registered 18F-FET PET images, and an advanced histogram analysis of diffusion kurtosis map parameters was applied to generated 3D regions-of-interest. Diagnostic accuracy was analysed by receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis and combinations of PET and MRI parameters using multivariate logistic regression. Results Parameters derived from diffusion MRI kurtosis maps show high diagnostic accuracy, up to 88%, for differentiating between TPR and TRC. Logistic regression revealed that the highest diagnostic accuracy of 94% (area under the curve, 0.97; sensitivity, 94%; specificity, 91%) was achieved by combining the maximum tumour-to-brain ratio of 18F-FET uptake and diffusion MRI kurtosis metrics. Conclusions The combined use of 18F-FET PET and MRI diffusion kurtosis maps appears to be a promising approach to improve the differentiation of TPR from TRC in pre-treated glioblastoma and warrants further investigation.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saiping Qi ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Xiaomin He ◽  
Jialing Zhou ◽  
Zhibin Chen ◽  
...  

Aim: Liver fibrosis monitoring is essential in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, less robust, noninvasive diagnostic methods for staging liver fibrosis, other than liver biopsy, are available. Our previous study demonstrated a panel of cellular proteins recognized by autoantibodies that may have potential value in discrimination of CHB and liver cirrhosis. We aim to assess the diagnostic value of these serum autoantibodies for staging liver fibrosis.Methods: Candidate autoantigens were screened and assessed by microarray analysis in 96 healthy controls and 227 CHB patients with pre-treatment biopsy-proven METAVIR fibrosis score, comprising 69, 115, and 43 cases with S0-1, S2-3, and S4 stages, respectively. Autoantibodies with potential diagnostic value for staging liver fibrosis were verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Receiver operating characteristic curve was conducted to evaluate autoantibody performance.Results: Microarray analysis identified autoantigens CENPF, ACY1, HSPA6, and ENO1 with potential diagnostic value for liver fibrosis staging, among which CENPF and ACY1 were validated using ELISA. CENPF and ACY1 autoantibodies had area under the curve values of 0.746 and 0.685, 58.14 and 74.42% sensitivity, and 88.41 and 60.87% specificity, respectively, for discriminating liver fibrosis stages S4 and S0-1. The prevalence of CENPF and ACY1 autoantibodies was not correlated with age, sex or level of inflammation.Conclusions: Autoimmune responses may be elicited during progression of liver fibrosis, and serum autoantibodies may be a valuable biomarker for staging liver fibrosis deserving of further study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 3727-3736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaqin Li ◽  
Lanfang Cao ◽  
Qing Yu ◽  
Haiyan Xue ◽  
Yanming Lu

Objective This study aimed to assess whether orosomucoid 1-like 3 (ORMDL3) expression and environmental and clinical factors are associated with wheezing episodes in preschool children. Methods Children diagnosed with wheezing episodes were classified according to their asthma predictive index (API) in the past year as follows: API+ (≥4 wheezing episodes), API− (1–3 wheezing episodes), and API0 (without wheezing). ORMDL3 expression was assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of ORMDL3 expression and the API was performed for diagnosing wheezing episodes. Correlations between ORMDL3 expression and asthma risk factors were examined using Spearman’s correlation. Results PBMC ORMDL3 expression was higher in the API+ group compared with the API− and API0 groups. The area under the curve for ORMDL3 expression was 0.820 (95% confidence interval, 0.771–0.869). ORMDL3 expression was positively correlated with the API ( r = 0.447), infantile eczema ( r = 0.499), wheezing ( r = 0.516), total immunoglobulin E ( r = 0.208), and environmental factors, including Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus ( r = 0.357), house dust mites ( r = 0.112), dog fur ( r = 0.226), and Aspergillus( r = 0.257). ORMDL3 expression was negatively correlated with amaranth ( r = −0.122). Conclusions ORMDL3 expression in PBMCs is positively associated with the API and some asthma-related clinical and environmental risk factors in preschoolers.


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