title: Wound infection incidence in patients with simple and gangrenous or perforated appendicitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Performing a delayed primary wound closure is often recommended in patients with gangrenous or perforated appendicitis who have undergone an appendectomy. It can result in increased pain as well as an extended hospital stay which, in turn, increases hospital costs. Delayed primary wound closure remains controversial. The general policy in our institution is to perform a primary wound closure. In this study, we have compared the incidence of wound infection in patients with simple appendicitis to those with gangrenous or perforated appendicitis whose wounds were primarily closed.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is an observational study which was carried out on 400 patients with gangrenous or perforated (50%) and simple appendicitis (50%). Both groups underwent primary wound closure. Patients were followed for wound infection for at least one month after surgery. Data including age, sex, operating time, pathologic report and wound infection were collected. A comparison between the studied groups was made using Student's t-test for continuous variables and 2 test for categorical variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age of the patients was 23 years. There were 141 (35.2%) females and 259 (64.8%) males. The median operating time was 30 minutes. Wound infections were observed in 15 patients (3.7%), including 6 cases of simple and 9 cases of gangrenous or perforated appendicitis which was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no statistically significant difference in wound infection between the simple and gangrenous or perforated appendicitis groups.
authors.affiliation: MUMS Surgical Research Center, Department of General Surgery, Imam Reza University Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehrabi Bahar
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jangjoo
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amouzeshi
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavianifar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001065:Appendix / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005734:Gangrene / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult