Pınar Yazıcı, Uygar Demir, Emre Bozdağ, Emre Bozkurt, Gürhan Işıl, Özgür Bostancı, Mehmet Mihmanlı

Clinic of General Surgery, Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Objective: The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) has recently been used as a marker to predict outcome in various patient groups. In this study, we aimed to examine how RDW is influenced during the treatment and follow-up of cases of acute cholecystitis which is a common inflammatory disease.
Material and Methods: Seventy-two patients who were treated for acute cholecystitis, were included into the study. The demographic data, leukocyte count, RDW, C-reactive protein (CRP) values and treatment protocols of these patients were prospectively recorded. The patients who received medical treatment for acute cholecystitis (Group A, n=33) and those who underwent surgery (Group B, n=39) were examined in separate groups.
Results: There were 27 male and 45 female patients with a mean age of 50.1±18 years (min-max: 21-94). In Group B, 33 patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy, whereas 6 patients underwent open cholecystectomy. The RDW values on admission were not significantly different between two groups. However the post-treatment/predischarge RDW values were significantly lower in the surgical group (14.4±1.9 to 13.6±1.1, respectively, p<0.05). Also, no significant RDW change was identified in the medical treatment group based on an intra-group assessment, whereas a significant decrease was observed in Group B (on admission and following surgical treatment: 14.3±1.3, 13.6±1.1, respectively, p=0.015). No significant differences were observed between groups in terms of CRP and leucocyte values.
Conclusion: There was a significant decrease in RDW values in patients who were treated with surgery for acute cholecystitis, while this response could not be observed with medical treatment.

Keywords: Acute cholecystitis, red cell band width, surgical treatment


 

Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics committee approval was received for this study from the ethics committee of Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital.

Peer Review

Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions

Concept - P.Y.; Design - P.Y., E.Bozkurt; Supervision - P.Y., U.D.; Funding - E.Bozdağ, E.Bozkurt; Data Collection and/or Processing - E.Bozdağ, E.Bozkurt, G.I.; Analysis and/or Interpretation - P.Y., Ö.B., M.M.; Literature Review - P.Y., Ö.B.; Writer - P.Y., G.I.; Critical Review - U.D., Ö.B., M.M.

Conflict of Interest

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.