The clinical diagnosis of appendicitis needs to be improved, as up to 40% of explorations for suspected appendicitis are unnecessary. The use of body temperature and laboratory examinations as diagnostic aids in the management of these patients is controversial. The diagnostic power of these variables compared to that of the disease history and clinical findings is not well studied. In this study we prospectively assessed and compared the diagnostic value of 21 elements of the history, clinical findings, body temperature, and laboratory examinations in 496 patients with suspected appendicitis. The diagnostic value of each variable was compared from the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the likelihood ratios (LR). Logistic regression was used to analyze the diagnostic value of a combination of variables and to analyze independent relations. No single variable had sufficiently high discriminating or predicting power to be used as a true diagnostic test. The inflammatory variables (temperature, leukocyte and differential white blood cell (WBC) counts, C-reactive protein) had discriminating and predicting powers similar to those of the clinical findings (direct and rebound abdominal tenderness and guarding). Anorexia, nausea, and right-sided rectal tenderness had no diagnostic value. The leukocyte and differential WBC counts, C-reactive protein, rebound tenderness, guarding, and gender were independent predictors of appendicitis with a combined ROC area of 0. 93 for appendicitis. This showed that inflammatory variables contain important diagnostic information, especially with advanced appendicitis. They should therefore always be included in the diagnostic workup in patients with suspected appendicitis.

In-hospital observation with repeated clinical examinations is commonly used in patients with an equivocal diagnosis of appendicitis. It is not known if repeated measurements of temperature and laboratory examinations have any diagnostic importance in this situation. The importance of repeated measurements of the body temperature, white blood cell (WBC) and differential cell counts, C-reactive protein concentration (CRP) and of the surgeon's repeated assessments was prospectively analyzed in 420 patients with an equivocal diagnosis of appendicitis at admission who were reexamined after a median of 6 hours of observation. The final diagnosis was appendicitis in 137 patients. After observation the inflammatory response was increasing among patients with appendicitis and decreasing among patients without appendicitis. The variables discriminating power for appendicitis consequently increased, from an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.56 to 0.77 at admission, to 0.75 to 0.85 after observation. The ROC area of the surgeons' clinical assessment increased from 0.69 to 0.89. The WBC and differential cell counts were the best discriminators at the repeat examination. The change in the variables between the observations had weak discriminating power and had no additional importance in addition to the actual level at the repeat examination. To conclude, the diagnostic information of the temperature and laboratory examinations increased after observation. Repeated controls of the body temperature and laboratory examinations are therefore useful in the management of patients with equivocal signs of appendicitis, but the result of the examinations must be integrated with the clinical assessment.

Background:Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have independently found numerous loci at which common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) modestly influence the risk of developing colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to test 11 loci, reported to be associated with an increased or decreased risk of colorectal cancer: 8q23.3 (rs16892766), 8q24.21 (rs6983267), 9p24 (rs719725), 10p14 (rs10795668), 11q23.1 (rs3802842), 14q22.2 (rs4444235), 15q13.3 (rs4779584), 16q22.1 (rs9929218), 18q21.1 (rs4939827), 19q13.1 (rs10411210) and 20p12.3 (rs961253), in a Swedish-based cohort.Methods:The cohort was composed of 1786 cases and 1749 controls that were genotyped and analysed statistically. Genotype–phenotype analysis, for all 11 SNPs and sex, age of onset, family history of CRC and tumour location, was performed.Results:Of eleven loci, 5 showed statistically significant odds ratios similar to previously published findings: 8q23.3, 8q24.21, 10p14, 15q13.3 and 18q21.1. The remaining loci 11q23.1, 16q22.1, 19q13.1 and 20p12.3 showed weak trends but somehow similar to what was previously published. The loci 9p24 and 14q22.2 could not be confirmed. We show a higher number of risk alleles in affected individuals compared to controls. Four statistically significant genotype–phenotype associations were found; the G allele of rs6983267 was associated to older age, the G allele of rs1075668 was associated with a younger age and sporadic cases, and the T allele of rs10411210 was associated with younger age.Conclusions:Our study, using a Swedish population, supports most genetic variants published in GWAS. More studies are needed to validate the genotype–phenotype correlations.

BackgroundApproximately 15 to 30% of colorectal cancers present as an emergency, most often as obstruction or perforation. Studies report poorer outcome for patients who undergo emergency compared with elective surgery, both for their initial hospital stay and their long-term survival. Advanced tumor pathology and tumors with unfavorable histologic features may provide the basis for the difference in outcome. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical and pathologic profiles of emergency and elective surgical cases for colorectal cancer, and relate these to gender, age group, tumor location, and family history of the disease. The main outcome measure was the difference in morphology between elective and emergency surgical cases.MethodsIn total, 976 tumors from patients treated surgically for colorectal cancer between 2004 and 2006 in Stockholm County, Sweden (8 hospitals) were analyzed in the study. Seventeen morphological features were examined and compared with type of operation (elective or emergency), gender, age, tumor location, and family history of colorectal cancer by re-evaluating the histopathologic features of the tumors.ResultsIn a univariate analysis, the following characteristics were found more frequently in emergency compared with elective cases: multiple tumors, higher American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), tumor (T) and node (N) stage, peri-tumor lymphocytic reaction, high number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, signet-ring cell mucinous carcinoma, desmoplastic stromal reaction, vascular and perineural invasion, and infiltrative tumor margin (P<0.0001 for AJCC stage III to IV, N stage 1 to 2/3, and vascular invasion). In a multivariate analysis, all these differences, with the exception of peri-tumor lymphocytic reaction, remained significant (P<0.0001 for multiple tumors, perineural invasion, infiltrative tumor margin, AJCC stage III, and N stage 1 to 2/3).ConclusionsColorectal cancers that need surgery as an emergency case generally show a more aggressive histopathologic profile and a more advanced stage than do elective cases. Essentially, no difference was seen in location, and therefore it is likely there would be no differences in macro-environment either. Our results could indicate that colorectal cancers needing emergency surgery belong to an inherently specific group with a different etiologic or genetic background.