Timing of intervention does not affect outcome in acute appendicitis in a large community practice.
BACKGROUND
Surgical management of acute appendicitis remains one of the most frequent problems faced by gastrointestinal surgeons. Traditional management has emphasized urgent surgical care. Recent literature suggests delayed surgery for acute appendicitis does not affect outcome. The outcomes of patients undergoing urgent and delayed appendectomy in a large community surgical practice are compared.


METHODS
All patients undergoing appendectomy between August 2002 and May 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. The data were gathered from a large community surgical practice. Patient demographics, treatment times, and surgical, pathologic, and postsurgical outcomes were documented.


RESULTS
A total of 1,198 patients underwent appendectomy (575 female/623 male). The mean time to surgical intervention was 7.1 hours (range, 1-24 h). The percentage of patients undergoing laparoscopy versus open versus surgical conversion was 63%, 33%, and 4%, respectively. The percentage of patients with acute appendicitis versus perforated acute appendicitis versus negative exploration was 77%, 14%, and 8.5%, respectively. Postoperative wound or intra-abdominal septic complications were observed in 5.3% and 2.6% of patients, respectively. There was no correlation between the duration of symptoms or time to surgical intervention and surgical approach, pathologic outcome, length of stay, or postoperative septic complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Outcome variables documented in this study were independent of duration of symptoms or time to surgical intervention. This would suggest that short delays in surgical intervention for acute appendicitis are well tolerated. Outcome is related more clearly to the severity of the acute appendicitis at presentation.
Clyde
Courtney
C
Surgical Specialists of Spokane, 105 W 8th Ave., Suite 7060, Spokane, WA 99208, USA.
Bax
Timothy
T
Merg
Anders
A
MacFarlane
Mark
M
Lin
Paul
P
Beyersdorf
Steven
S
McNevin
M Shane
MS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome