RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the value of high mobility group box 1(HMGB1) in the diagnosis of pediatric acute appendicitis. METHODS: The children with acute abdomen who had a diagnosis of suspected acute appendicitis between January and July 2013 and 25 healthy children were enrolled in this study. Serum HMGB1 levels were measured using ELISA on admission. The patients were classified into 2 groups according to surgery confirmation or pathological results: appendicitis (n=28) and non-appendicitis (n=35). RESULTS: Serum HMGB1 levels and WBC in the appendicitis and non-appendicitis groups were significantly higher than in the healthy children group (P<0.01). The appendicitis group showed more increased serum HMGB1 levels compared with the non-appendicitis group (median: 32.9 ng/mL vs 22.0 ng/mL; P<0.01). For a diagnosis of acute appendicitis, the sensitivity and specificity of serum HMGB1 was 71.4% and 82.9% respectively at the best cutoff of 28.0 ng/mL, with the accuracy of 77.8% and the area under the curve of 0.765 (95%CI 0.638-0.893). CONCLUSIONS: HMGB1 may play a role in the diagnosis of pediatric acute appendicitis.