Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36454367›Full record

ArticlePediatric surgery international2022

Diagnostic performance of serum pentraxin-3 in pediatric acute appendicitis: a prospective diagnostic validation study.

Javier Arredondo Montero, Giuseppa Antona, Mónica Bronte Anaut, Carlos Bardají Pascual, Raquel Ros Briones, Amaya Fernández-Celis, Adriana Rivero Marcotegui, Natalia López-Andrés, Nerea Martín-Calvo

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Pediatric surgery international, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Javier Arredondo MonteroPediatric Surgery Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Calle Irunlarrea 3, 31008, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. jarredondom@alumni.unav.es.
Giuseppa AntonaPediatric Surgery Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Calle Irunlarrea 3, 31008, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
Mónica Bronte AnautPathology Department, Hospital Universitario de Araba, Vitoria, Basque, Spain.
Carlos Bardají PascualPediatric Surgery Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Calle Irunlarrea 3, 31008, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
Raquel Ros BrionesPediatric Surgery Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Calle Irunlarrea 3, 31008, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
Amaya Fernández-CelisCardiovascular Translational Research, NavarraBiomed (Miguel Servet Foundation), Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), IdiSNA, Pamplona, Spain.
Adriana Rivero MarcoteguiClinical Analysis Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
Natalia López-AndrésCardiovascular Translational Research, NavarraBiomed (Miguel Servet Foundation), Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), IdiSNA, Pamplona, Spain.
Nerea Martín-CalvoDepartment of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionPediatric acute appendicitis (PAA) is a pathology with a high rate of diagnostic error. The search for new diagnostic tools is justified by the high morbidity and healthcare costs associated with diagnostic error.

methodsWe designed a prospective study to validate serum pentraxin-3 (PTX3) as a diagnostic tool in PAA. Participants were divided into three groups: (1) patients with no underlying pathology (2) patients with non-surgical abdominal pain and (3) patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PAA. For further analyses, patients in group 3 were divided into complicated or uncomplicated PAA. Quantitative variables were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges and categorical variables as percentages. Quantitative variables were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Diagnostic performance was evaluated with ROC curves.

resultsThis study included 215 patients divided into group 1 (n = 63), group 2 (n = 53) and group 3 (n = 99). Median serum PTX3 values were 2.54 (1.70-2.95) ng/mL, 3.29 (2.19-7.64) ng/mL and 8.94 (6.16-14.05) in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively (p = 0.001). Patients with complicated PAA showed significantly higher values than patients with uncomplicated PAA (p = 0.04). The AUC (group 2 vs. 3) was 0.77 (95% CI 0.69-0.85) and the best cut-off point was at 7.28 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 61.3% and a specificity of 73.1%. The AUC (complicated vs. uncomplicated PAA) was 0.65 (95% CI 0.54-0.77) and the best cut-off point was 12.33 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 51.72% and a specificity of 72.73%.

conclusionsThe diagnostic ability of serum PTX3 in PAA is only moderate and therefore it cannot be considered a definitive diagnostic test. The discriminatory ability of PTX3 between complicated and uncomplicated PAA is poor. These findings, which contrast with those reported to date, should be validated with future properly designed prospective studies.

Indexed as

AppendicitisAbdominal PainAcute DiseaseChildDiagnostic ErrorsHumansProspective StudiesComplicatedDiagnosisPediatric acute appendicitisPTX3ROCTSG14

Identifiers

PMID36454367
PMCPMC9713741

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.