Sensitivity and specificity of red cell distribution width in diagnosing acute mesenteric ischemia in patients with abdominal pain.

Background: We investigated the utility of the red cell distribution width (RDW) in diagnosing acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) in patients with abdominal pain.

Methods: The patients were divided into two groups in this retrospective case-control study: patients with AMI and patients with abdominal pain who did not require urgent surgery. Venous blood was collected from the patients upon admission to the emergency department, and abdominal computed tomography angiography was performed. The RDW and hematological and biochemical parameters of the groups were compared. The primary outcome was AMI among the patients with abdominal pain. The secondary outcome was mortality, complaint period, and size of ischemia/necrosis among the AMI patients.

Results: The RDW, white blood cell lactate dehydrogenase, and blood urea nitrogen of the patients with AMI were significantly different from those of the control group. When the average RDW (15.04 %) of the patients with AMI was used as a cut-off value, the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (+LR), and negative likelihood (-LR) were 40.8 %, 81.2 %, 2.17, and 0.73, respectively. When patients with AMI and anemia were included in the group, the sensitivity and specificity values did not change. There was no relation between the RDW and mortality, size of the ischemia/necrosis, and complaint period. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the average RDW between the patients with ischemia/necrosis in the small intestine only and those with ischemia/necrosis in the colon.

Conclusion: The RDW on admission is of marginal help to diagnose AMI among patients with abdominal pain.