Marcadores biológicos asociados a complicaciones tempranas en pacientes de 1 -14 años apendicectomizados en el Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante en el periodo 2022-2023.

Abstract

Appendicitis remains one of the leading causes of morbidity in the pediatric population in Ecuador, particularly in children between 1 and 14 years of age. This research aimed to determine the biological markers associated with early complications in pediatric patients who underwent appendectomy at the Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante during the period from 2022 to 2023. A retrospective, observational, and descriptive study was conducted, using a non-probabilistic sample of patients who met the inclusion criteria. It was found that 8.6% of patients developed early infectious complications, with the most common being mesenteric lymphadenitis and surgical wound infection. Of all the laboratory parameters analyzed, only elevated white blood cell counts upon admission and the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) showed a statistically significant association with the occurrence of complications. In contrast, other inflammatory markers such as PCR, VSG, and PCT showed no prognostic utility in this context. These findings highlight the potential utility of white blood cells and RDW as accessible and valuable tools for the early identification of patients at higher risk for infectious complications, promoting more accurate postoperative monitoring.