Objective: To study the changes of serum albumin contents after operation and investigate whether post-operational serum albumin contents are correlated with the disease severity in children with acute intussusception.
Methods: Serum albumin contents were measured using the automatic biochemistry analyzer in 32 children with mild acute intussusception and 21 children with severe acute intussusception 1 day after surgical operation. After 5 days combined treatment, serum albumin contents were re-examined. Thirty healthy children severed as the control group. The correlation between post-operational serum albumin contents and critical illness scores was evaluated.
Results: Serum albumin contents in the mild (34.2+/-6.5 g/L; P<0.05) and the severe intussusception groups (25.8+/-7.5 g/L; P<0.01) 1 day after operation were significantly lower than those in the control group (37.1+/-4.1 g/L). There were significant differences in serum albumin contents between the mild and the severe intussusception groups (P<0.05). Five days after operation, serum albumin contents in the mild intussusception group significantly increased (37.1+/-11.4 g/L; P<0.05), while serum albumin contents in the severe intussusception group did not differ from those 1 day after operation. There was a positive correlation between serum albumin contents on the 1st day after operation and the critical illness scores (r=0.879, P<0.01).
Conclusions: Serum albumin contents decreased on the 1st day after operation and were correlated with the disease severity in children with acute intussusception. Hypoalbuminemia lasted for a longer period in severe cases. The post-operational measurement of serum albumin contents may be useful in the evaluation of the severity for children with acute intussusception.