OBJECTIVE: To assess the differential diagnostic value of serum intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) in distinguishing intestinal ischemia patients from acute abdomen patients. METHODS: A total of 151 patients with acute abdomen and 17 healthy controls from the PLA General Hospital were enrolled from November, 2009 to August, 2011. Serum I-FABP levels were measured by ELISA. According to the ROC curve, the cut-off value, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 151 acute abdomen patients, there were 24 intestinal ischemia patients and 127 without intestinal ischemia. Serum I-FABP level in intestinal ischemia group [(109.67 ± 48.82) µg/L] was significantly higher than those in patients without intestinal ischemia [(36.78 ± 11.25) µg/L] and healthy controls[(8.33 ± 6.25) µg/L](all P values < 0.01). The serum I-FABP cut-off value for the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia was 87.52 µg/L. Serum I-FABP was efficient in terms of sensitivity (0.762), NPV(0.963), PLR(3.05) and NLR (0.24) in the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia. CONCLUSION: I-FABP is potentially useful for discriminating intestinal ischemia from acute abdomen.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the differential diagnostic value of serum intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) in distinguishing intestinal ischemiapatients from acute abdomen patients. METHODS: A total of 151 patients with acute abdomen and 17 healthy controls from the PLA General Hospital were enrolled from November, 2009 to August, 2011. Serum I-FABP levels were measured by ELISA. According to the ROC curve, the cut-off value, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 151 acute abdomen patients, there were 24 intestinal ischemiapatients and 127 without intestinal ischemia. Serum I-FABP level in intestinal ischemia group [(109.67 ± 48.82) µg/L] was significantly higher than those in patients without intestinal ischemia [(36.78 ± 11.25) µg/L] and healthy controls[(8.33 ± 6.25) µg/L](all P values < 0.01). The serum I-FABP cut-off value for the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia was 87.52 µg/L. Serum I-FABP was efficient in terms of sensitivity (0.762), NPV(0.963), PLR(3.05) and NLR (0.24) in the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia. CONCLUSION:I-FABP is potentially useful for discriminating intestinal ischemia from acute abdomen.