SP9.03 Index white cell count and neutrophil count in prediction of clinical severity of acute diverticulitis patients in a busy NHS general surgical department

Aim This study aims to find the clinical corelation between the index white cell count (WCC) and neutrophil count in the clinical severity prediction of acute diverticulitis patients in a busy general surgical department in NHS. Methods The study was a retrospective observational study. All patients admitted to the general surgical department with a diagnosis of acute diverticulitis from March 2023 to October 2024 were included. All the other surgical patients were excluded. Index WCC and neutrophil counts were collected from the patient records. Other variables included ASA grade, age, gender, length of stay, Hinchey grade and management offered. Statistics was performed on StatsDirect3 software. Results Median WCC for the diverticulitis patients was 13 x 10^9/L. Median highest-WCC during admission period was 15 x 10^9/L. Median index neutrophil count was 10 x 10^9/L. Multivariate regression analysis between the Hinchey grade and the highest WCC, Index WCC and index neutrophil count suggested a p-value of <0.001. Our study suggests that index WCC and index neutrophil count can predict the clinical severity of the diverticulitis patients and potentially guide the management options. Length of stay was not affected by the index WCC or the neutrophil count. Index WCC was statistically significant factor in determining the management options with a p-value of 0.0044. Index WCC of 8 to 13.5 x 10^9/L suggests Hinchey 1, 14.5 to 16.8 x10^9/L suggests Hinchey 2, 17 to 18.9 x10^9/L suggests Hinchey 3 and index WCC> 20 x10^9/L suggests Hinchey 4.