Wednesday, June 24, 2009

LRG urine test may help diagnose appendicitis

From Reuters:

Appendicitis is the most common emergency in childhood, yet 3-30% of appendectomies may be unnecessary. Urine test for leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein (LRG) may help diagnose appendicitis in children.


Inflamed appendix removal by open surgery. Image source: Wikipedia, Dr Vgaikwad, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.


An example of a leucine-rich repeat protein, a porcine ribonuclease inhibitor. Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.

Twitter comments:

Howard Luks
hjluks better to remove a few normals than miss an appy that perforates.