title: Consequences of removal of a "normal" appendix.
abstract: Five hundred consecutive cases of appendicectomy were reviewed. The incidence of non-inflamed appendices removed at operation was 29.6% and was nearly twice as high in females than in males (P less than 0.001). The incidence of perforated appendices in patients with acute appendicitis was low (6.5%), and there were no deaths. Postoperative complications, mostly infections occurred in 6.7% of patients with a non-inflamed appendix and in 19.3% of patients with appendicitis (P less than 0.001). No features of the history or examination were sufficiently discriminatory to enable a definite diagnosis to be reliably established before operation. Appendicectomy remains the safest management option in patients with suspected appendicitis in whom diagnostic doubt remains after thorough clinical evaluation and observation.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001062:Appendectomy / Q000401:mortality; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001065:Appendix / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology