Can C-reactive protein and white blood cell count alone rule out an urgent condition in acute abdominal pain?
Up to 10% of all patients at the Emergency Department present for acute abdominal pain. The C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell (WBC) are routinely determined as part of the workup of patients with abdominal pain. Three large prospective cohort studies comprising a total of 2961 adult patients with acute abdominal pain were selected. CRP levels and WBC counts were compared between patients with urgent and nonurgent final diagnoses. These studies conclude that the laboratory values individually are weak discriminators and cannot be used as a triage instrument in the selection of patients with acute abdominal pain requiring additional diagnostic tests.
SOC Medicina d'Urgenza e Pronto Soccorso AOU S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, UD, Italy. ciropaolillo@gmail.com.
Ciro
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8027-5551
C
Paolillo
SOC Medicina d'Urgenza e Pronto Soccorso AOU S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, UD, Italy.
Ilenia
I
Spallino
D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014218:Triage
D002097:C-Reactive Protein
Abdominal pain; Acute abdomen; C-reactive protein (CRP); White blood cell (WBC)