THE DIAGNOSTIC POTENTIAL OF SOME ROUTINE LABORATORY TESTS

The potential was tested of white blood cell count (WBC), haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and erythrocyte volume fraction (EVF) to differenti ate between patients with acute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI), perforatio n of colon, perforation of peptic ulcer, and intestinal obstruction. T he WBC in patients with AMI (18.95 +/- 6.88 10(3) ml-3) was significan tly above the normal range (upper cut-off 11.0 10(3) ml-3 ; P<0.0001). Other variables in the patient groups did not differ from those of he althy individuals. All variables were, however, different between pati ents with AMI and non-AMI (P<0.001). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to define the optimal cut-off for each v ariable. Sensitivity and specificity of the variables were between 62% and 75%. Discriminant analysis of the variables classified 80% of the patients correctly into AMI and non-AMI groups.