7542 Post-Operative Complications of Appendectomy in Benign Gynecologic Surgery: National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Analysis

Abstract

<h3>Study Objective</h3> This study was conducted to assess if concomitant appendectomy in women undergoing laparoscopic surgery for benign gynecologic indications is associated with increased rates of post-operative complications in the 30-day post-operative period. <h3>Design</h3> Retrospective cohort study. <h3>Setting</h3> National database study. <h3>Patients or Participants</h3> American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database was utilized to identify women who underwent laparoscopic surgery by a gynecologist. Patients were excluded if they underwent open abdominal surgeries, bowel resections, urogynecologic surgeries, or if cancer or appendicitis was present. There were 247,700 patients included in population cohort between 2010 and 2020. <h3>Interventions</h3> Patients were identified using Current Procedural Terminology codes. Patients who underwent concomitant appendectomy were compared to patients who did not undergo appendectomy. Demographic variables included age, body mass index, and medical co-morbidities. Post-operative complications included superficial, deep, or organ space infection, sepsis, thromboembolic events, blood transfusion, hospital re-admission, and re-operation. A matched cohort was created by computing propensity scores. Outcomes were compared between groups using Fisher and Mann-Whitney tests. <h3>Measurements and Main Results</h3> 1,815 patients (0.7%) underwent concomitant appendectomy. In the propensity matched sample, there were comparable rates of post-operative surgical site infections at 2.8% in the appendectomy group and 2.4% in the no appendectomy group (p-value 0.469). There were higher rates of sepsis in the appendectomy group with 1.3% of patients being diagnosed with sepsis compared to 0.3% in the no appendectomy group (p-value 0.003). There were higher rates of hospital re-admission in the appendectomy group at 4% compared to 3% in the no appendectomy group (p-value 0.006). There were no differences in the rates of post-operative thromboembolic events, blood transfusion, or re-operation. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Patients undergoing concomitant appendectomy at the time of benign gynecologic laparoscopic surgery have increased risk of post-operative sepsis and hospital re-admission. Additional studies may be conducted to identify patients with optimal risk-benefit profiles when considering concomitant appendectomy.