The Alvarado Score is accurate in pregnancy: a retrospective case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis is the most frequent abdominal condition that requires non-obstetric surgical intervention during pregnancy. This study aims to scan pregnant patients operated on for acute appendicitis to evaluate the efficiency of using the Alvarado Score (AS) for diagnosis. METHODS: Our study included 48 pregnant patients who were pre-diagnosed with acute appendicitis and operated on at our department of general surgery from January 2010 to July 2016 and whose files were accessed. Fifty-three non-pregnant female patients of reproductive age who were operated on for appendicitis during the same period were included in the study as the control group. The patients in both groups were divided into two groups based on their AS total score being 7 and ≥ 7. RESULTS: The mean age of the 48 pregnant patients was 28 (19-42) years, while the mean age of the 53 control patients was 31 (18-45) years. Among pregnant and non-pregnant women, about a third of patients had an AS < 7 (16 of 48 versus 18 of 53). There was no significant difference when the AS scores of both groups were compared (p = 0.947). Using pathology results as reference test, the sensitivity and specificity of the AS in pregnant women was 79 and 80%. CONCLUSIONS: As a result, when the data collected by our study are evaluated, we see that pregnancy does not have a negative effect on the efficacy of AS. Therefore, the AS system can be an easy, non-invasive auxiliary diagnostic tool with high diagnosis accuracy rates that can be used in pregnant patients suspected of having acute appendicitis.

Does calcium dobesilate protect against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury induced in rats?

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated whether the administration of calcium dobesilate (CD) affects oxidative stress markers and histopathological outcomes in a rat model of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted with 30 male Wistar rats. The rats were randomly assigned to three groups as follows: a sham group (n = 10), an IR group (n = 10), and an IR + CD group (n = 10). In the sham group, superior mesenteric artery (SMA) dissection alone was performed during laparotomy. In the IR group, the procedure included SMA occlusion for 60 min, followed by reperfusion for 60 min. In the IR + CD group, CD (100 mg/kg/day) was additionally given for two days before laparotomy by intragastric lavage. In all the rats, 2 ml of blood were drawn, and an ileal segment (approximately 2 cm in size) was removed to evaluate oxidative stress markers. The ileal segment removed was divided into two pieces, and one piece was reserved for histopathological evaluation. RESULTS: Compared to the other groups, both serum and tissue oxidative stress indices were lower in the IR + CD group. The decrease was due to CD increasing the total antioxidant capacity. Moreover, the histological analysis showed that CD reduced tissue injury. CONCLUSIONS: CD may exert a protective effect against intestinal IR injury by increasing antioxidant capacity.

Serum oxidative stress, visfatin and apelin in healthy women and those with premenstrual syndrome.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between premenstrual syndrome and oxidative stress, visfatin and apelin. The study included 40 women with premenstrual syndrome and 40 healthy women. In all subjects, serum visfatin, apelin and oxidative stress parameters were studied in venous blood samples. The oxidative stress parameters were higher in the premenstrual syndrome group than among the controls, but this difference did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). It was found that total antioxidant capacity was similar in both groups. For the insulin-serotonin cycle markers, no significant difference was found between groups in terms of visfatin level (p = 0.893), although apelin was found to be significantly higher in the premenstrual syndrome group when compared with the controls (p < 0.001). According to our results, apelin can be used as an ancillary laboratory test in the diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome.