title: Impact of previous abdominal surgery on laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopic appendectomy is one of the most commonly performed laparoscopic procedures. Impact of previous abdominal surgery on laparoscopic appendectomy has not been previously reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2001 to December 2005, 2029 patients with clinically suspected acute appendicitis underwent laparoscopic surgery in our hospital. Of these, 234 patients (11.5%) were found to have other pathology by intraoperative or histologic findings and were excluded from the study. The 1795 patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis were divided into three groups: group 1, patients without a history of previous abdominal surgery (n = 1652, 92%); group 2, patients with a history of upper abdominal surgery (n = 20, 1.1%); group 3, patients with a history of lower abdominal surgery (n = 123, 6.8%). Data were collected retrospectively by chart review and analyzed for conversion rate, operative time, intraoperative and postoperative complications, and hospital stay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1795 patients, 13 (0.7%) were converted to open appendectomy because of technical difficulty. Overall mean operative time was 57.2 (range, 20-225) min. There was no mortality or intraoperative complications. Overall postoperative complication rate was 10.7% (n = 193): rate of surgical wound infection was 8.2% (n = 147), surgical wound seroma 1.3% (n = 24), and intra-abdominal abscess 0.8% (n = 14). Overall postoperative hospital stay averaged 3.2 (range, 0-39) days. There were no significant differences between the three groups regarding the conversion rate (0.8% vs. 0% vs. 0%, p = 0.567), operative time (57.3 vs. 55.8 vs. 56.9 min, p = 0.962), postoperative complication rates (10.7 vs. 10 vs. 12.2%, p = 0.863), and hospital stay (3.2 vs. 3.6 vs. 3.1 days, p = 0.673).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Previous abdominal surgery, whether upper or lower abdominal, has no significant impact on laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jiann-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Heng-Fu
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Kuo-Hsin
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Ming-Shian
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Shih-Horng
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001062:Appendectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D011336:Probability; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome