Abstract

This study was conducted in Kirkuk city for the period from December, 2019 to June 2020, and included 50 children with acute appendicitisand 50 children without any other disease, where the ages of children in both groups ranged from 3-12 years. The study included collecting information from children in both groups, including gender, age, living situation, number of family members, standard of living and social as well as the number of family members, number of rooms in the house. Amount of 5 ml of blood samples were collected from all the children included in this study, where the blood samples were separated by the centrifuge device and the serum samples were separated from them and kept in the refrigerator until the tests for determination of calprotectin and lactoferrin by ELISA and CRP by immunofluorescence. In this study, there were no significant difference between the 2 groups regarding age, sex and residence. The study found that, 95% of children with appendicitis was suffered from abdominal pain , 50% with fever and weight loss, 48% with nausea and 40% with vomiting. The study revealed a significant elevated level of calprotectin in children with appendicitis as compared with healthy children(18.54±4.25 vs 11.37±3.28 ng/ml) (P<0.001). The study also exposed a significant higher level of lactoferrin in children with appendicitis as compared with healthy children(10.51±1.52 vs 2.18±0.19 ng/ml) (P<0.001).The study showed that the maximum means of calprotectin and lactoferrin in children with appendicitis were observed in those with abdominal pain, followed by vomiting. The study revealed a significant positive correlation between calprotectin and lactoferrinlevel among children with acute appendicitis.The mean serum level of CRP was significantly elevated in children with acute appendicitiscompared to control group (27.57 ± 4.22 and 5.57 ± 3.9 mg/dl) respectively at a P value < 0.001. Conclusions:The study showed a significant relation of calprotectin and lactoferrin withappendicitis.