Clinical significance of peri-appendiceal abscess and phlegmon in acute complicated appendicitis patients undergoing emergency appendectomy.

Background This study aimed to analyze the clinical data of patients who underwent emergency appendectomy for acute complicated appendicitis with peri-appendiceal abscess or phlegmon, identify factors influencing the postoperative length of hospital stay (LOS), and improve treatment strategies. Methods The clinical data of acute complicated appendicitis patients with peri-appendiceal abscess or phlegmon who underwent emergency appendectomy at the Department of Emergency Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, from January 2016 to March 2023, were retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 234 patients were included in our study. The duration of symptoms and the presence of an appendicolith were significantly correlated with the occurrence of peri-appendiceal abscess in patients with acute complicated appendicitis (P < 0.001 and P = 0.015, respectively). Patients with symptoms lasting longer than 72 hours had a significantly longer postoperative LOS compared to those with symptoms lasting 72 hours or less (HR, 1.208; 95% CI, 1.107 to 1.319; P < 0.001). Additionally, patients with peri-appendiceal abscesses had a significantly longer postoperative LOS compared to those with phlegmon (HR, 1.217; 95% CI, 1.095 to 1.352; P < 0.001). The patients with peri-appendiceal abscesses were divided into two groups based on the median size of the abscess: those with abscesses smaller than 5.0 cm (n = 69) and those with abscesses 5.0 cm or larger (n = 82). Patients with peri-appendiceal abscesses measuring 5.0 cm or larger had a significantly longer postoperative LOS than those with abscesses smaller than 5.0 cm (P = 0.038). Conclusion The duration of symptoms and the presence of an appendicolith are significant risk factors for the formation of peri-appendiceal abscesses in patients with acute complicated appendicitis. Patients with peri-appendiceal abscesses experience a significantly longer postoperative LOS compared to those with peri-appendiceal phlegmon.

Background:This study aimed to analyze the clinical data of patients who received conservative treatment for acute complicated appendicitis with peri-appendiceal abscess, identify factors influencing the success rate, and improve treatment strategies.Methods:The clinical data of acute complicated appendicitis patients with peri-appendiceal abscess who received conservative treatment at the Department of Emergency Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, from January 2016 to March 2023, were retrospectively analyzed.Results:A total of 80 patients were included in our study. Patients were divided into two groups based on the outcomes of ultrasound-guided drainage: The Drainage group (n=28) and the Antibiotic group (n=52). The baseline characteristics of the two groups were comparable. In the Antibiotic group, the surgery rate was 30.4% for patients with an appendicolith and 6.9% for those without. In the Drainage group, the surgery rate was 33.3% for patients with an appendicolith and 27.3% for those without. The presence of an appendicolith significantly correlated with the need for surgery in the Antibiotic group (P=0.026), but not in the Drainage group (P=0.771). For patients who underwent surgery, the incidence of surgical site infections did not differ significantly (P=0.656), and the median length of postoperative hospital stay was similar between the groups (4.0 days vs. 3.0 days, P=0.337).Conclusion:The presence of an appendicolith is a risk factor for the failure of antibiotic therapy alone in acute complicated appendicitis patients with peri-appendiceal abscess. However, it does not affect the surgical rate in those who underwent successful drainage.

Is preoperative distinction between complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis feasible without imaging?

IntroductionThe goal in appendicitis is early diagnosis and early treatment. Complications develop as treatment is delayed. Therefore, there is a need for fast, low-cost markers that can be diagnosed earlier. The aim of this study is to show the effectiveness of immature granulocyte (IG) level in determining the complication of acute appendicitis.MethodIn this retrospective cross-sectional study, 99 patients with acute appendicitis and 41 control groups were included in the study. Acute appendicitis patients were divided into two groups as acute simple appendicitis(n = 65) and acute complicated appendicitis(n = 34). In all groups, demographic data, immature granulocyte (IG) count(x103/μL), IG ratio (IG%), white blood cell (WBC), polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PNL), lymphocyte, monocyte, platelet, mean platelet volume (MPV), ferritin levels were recorded. The blood analyses were performed the Mindray BC6800 automated hematology analyzer using standard laboratory protocols. All statistical testing was undertaken using IBM SPSS Statistics for Mac.ResultsCompared to the acute simple appendicitis, acute complicated appendicitis patients had significantly higher levels WBC, PNL, monocyte, IG count, and IG% (p = 0.009, p = 0047, p = 0.001, p = 0.018; respectively) while there was no significant difference in ferritin between groups (p = 0.49). In the ROC analysis, AUC value was found for IG count and IG% (0.893 and 0.725, cut-off 0.005 and 0.05; respectively) for acute appendicitis. The negative predictive value of IG for Acute Appendicitis was 85% and was the same as that of WBC. In acute complicated appendicitis, the AUC for IG and IG% was 0.796 (cut-off 0.02) and 0.693 (cut-off 0.2), respectively. Positive Likelihood Ratio (+LR; 2.1) value of IG was found higher than other complete blood count (CBC) tests.ConclusionThe IG count is test with fast, more predictive value than another CBC tests, and without cost in the early diagnosis of acute complicated appendicitis. It is strong negative predictive test for Acute Appendicitis disease.

Appendectomy has historically been the standard treatment of acute appendicitis, but lately, conservative treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis with antibiotics has successfully been used in selected patients. Complicated acute appendicitis is often treated conservatively initially, but may benefit from interval appendectomy due to the higher risk of appendiceal malignancy and recurrence. Recommendations for follow-up after conservatively treated appendicitis vary. Furthermore, the risk of underlying malignancy and the necessity of routine interval appendectomy are unclear. This study aims to evaluate follow-up status, recurrence, and underlying appendiceal malignancy in conservatively treated uncomplicated and complicated acute appendicitis. This study included patients with conservatively treated acute appendicitis at Skåne University Hospital, Sweden during 2012-2019. Information on patient demographics at index admission and data on follow-up, recurrence, number of appendectomies after initial conservative treatment, and underlying malignancy were retrieved from medical charts. The study cohort included 391 patients, 152 with uncomplicated and 239 with complicated acute appendicitis. Median time of study follow-up was 52 months. The recurrence risk was 23 (15.1%) after uncomplicated and 58 (24.3%) after complicated acute appendicitis (p = 0.030). During follow-up, 55 (23%) patients with complicated acute appendicitis underwent appendectomy. Appendiceal malignancies were found in 12 (5%) patients with previous complicated acute appendicitis versus no appendiceal malignancies after uncomplicated acute appendicitis (p = 0.002). The risk of appendiceal malignancy and recurrent appendicitis was significantly higher in patients with complicated acute appendicitis compared with uncomplicated acute appendicitis.

To determine whether hydronephrosis is a predictive factor for complicated acute appendicitis in patients with acute appendicitis. Observational, analytical, cross-sectional study; Patients with a histopathological diagnosis of acute appendicitis were included from the Department of Surgery of the Trujillo Regional Teaching Hospital between June and December 2022. They were divided into two groups, complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis. Abdominal ultrasound was evaluated to detect the presence or absence of hydronephrosis. Statistical data were analyzed using the Student's t-test for quantitative variables and Chi square for qualitative variables, considering p<0.05 statistically significant. It was found that 95 of 145 patients (65.5%) had complicated acute appendicitis with histopathological diagnosis, and 50 of 145 patients (34.4%) had uncomplicated appendicitis. Of the patients with complicated acute appendicitis, 6.32% (6) had right hydronephrosis, compared with 2% (1) (p=0.249). Operative time was identified as a statistically significant factor (p<0.05) of complicated acute appendicitis, at an average of 71.34±32.20 minutes in complicated acute appendicitis versus 52.16±21.16 in the other group. No association was found between the presence of hydronephrosis and complicated acute appendicitis.

The current research on acute appendicitis aims to improve the diagnostics and to clarify to whom antibiotic treatment might be the treatment of choice. The present study is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected data in our randomized multicenter trial comparing surgery and antibiotic treatment for acute uncomplicated appendicitis (APPAC trial, NCTO1022567). We evaluated 1321 patients with a clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis, who underwent computed tomography (CT). Age, gender, body temperature, pain scores, the duration of symptoms, white blood cell count (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were recorded on admission. CT confirmed the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in 73% (n=970) and in 27% (n=351) it revealed no or other diagnosis. Acute appendicitis patients had significantly higher WBC levels than patients without appendicitis (median 12.2 and 10.0, respectively, p<0.0001), whereas CRP levels did not differ between the two groups. Ideal cut-off points were assessed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, but neither these markers or neither their combination nor any clinical characteristic could accurately differentiate between patients with acute appendicitis and those without. The proportion of patients with normal WBC count and CRP was significantly (p=0.0007) lower in patients with acute appendicitis than in patients without appendicitis. Both clinical findings and laboratory tests are unable to reliably distinguish between patients with acute appendicitis and those without. If both WBC count and CRP are normal, acute appendicitis is very unlikely. The current results emphasize the role of CT imaging in patients with suspected acute appendicitis.

Acute appendicitis (AA) is a surgical emergency because of inflammation in the appendix leading to swelling, whereas acute complicated appendicitis is characterized by a gangrenous or perforated appendix with or without periappendicular abscess, peritonitis, and an appendicular mass. The laparoscopic approach in complicated acute appendicitis is a viable alternative method but is not practiced in all cases because of technical difficulties and unpredictable complications. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the primary and secondary outcome predictors of laparoscopic appendectomy in complicated appendicitis. A single-center prospective observational study was carried out after the approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC). A total of 87 complicated acute appendicitis patients were included in the study. Clinico-demographic features such as age, gender, duration of surgery, post-operative pain, and hospital stay were monitored in different age groups of <20, 20-39, and >40 years, and the primary and secondary outcomes of laparoscopic surgery in acute complicated appendicitis were measured. Acute complicated appendicitis cases were observed mostly in people older than 42 years in the total study population. Laparoscopic appendectomy was conducted in all 87 acute complicated appendicitis patients, and the major surgical outcome predictors were monitored, such as mean operating time (87.9 minutes), post-operative pain (3.9 scores), and post-operative stay (6.7 days). Post-operative complications such as drain site infection (1.14%), enterocutaneous fistula (2%), and intra-abdominal abscess (7%) were observed. Based on our observations, a laparoscopic appendectomy can be considered a viable alternative with an acceptable complication rate. Operative time varies from 84 to 94 minutes in different age groups and with the extent of the disease.

&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Acute appendicitis is a clinical term for inflammation of the vermiform appendix with a sudden onset. Symptoms depend both on the age of a patient and on the position of appendix intraabdominally. The aetiology remains unknown, although, there are multiple theories. The lifetime risk of acute appendicitis in Western countries has been established as 7-8%, with 8.6% for males and 6.7% for females. The standard treatment has been surgery for many decades, but non-operative treatment, in the form of antibiotics, has more recently come to light as a feasible alternative to appendectomies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Aims: The aim of this thesis was to assess intermediate and long-term outcomes of non- operative treatment in both children and adults. This included assessing safety and feasibility of non-operative treatment and its complications. An additional aim was to ascertain the failure rate of non-operative treatment and recurrence of acute uncomplicated appendicitis in children and try to establish the reasons for the treatment failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Methods: Study I was a 5-year follow-up of all participants who underwent surgery or non- operative treatment with antibiotics in a previous randomised controlled pilot trial. Data was extracted from the hospital notes and telephone interviews.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Study II was a long-term follow-up of adults with acute appendicitis who were involved in two randomised controlled trials, which compared non-operative treatment with appendectomy. The first trial consisted of 40 patients (13 female) and second trial was a multicentre study with 252 male patients. National registers were used to retrieve data at follow up, including the Swedish National Patient Register, the Cancer Register, the Cause of Death Register and Statistics Sweden.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Study III was a systematic review that was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024592607) and done according to PRISMA statement. We searched three databases (PubMed, Medline, Web of Science). Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials or prospective cohort studies with children aged &lt;18 years that received non-operative treatment for uncomplicated appendicitis and reporting at least 30 days follow-up. We carried out a meta- analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Results: In Study I, we followed up all 50 children (26 children in the appendectomy group, 24 children in the nonoperative group) for at least 5 years. The surgical group was without failures and in the nonoperative group there were 11 failures and recurrences. In the first year there were nine failures, two of them had an appendicitis on the histopathology. Another two recurrences, that were histopathologically confirmed appendicitis occurred one to five years after the initial trial. At the 5-year follow-up, 54% of children had been successfully treated nonoperatively with antibiotics alone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Study II, in total, we were able to trace down 259 patients in the Patient Register, 137 patients in the non-operative group and 122 in the surgical group. At the end of follow-up, 82 (60%) patients had had successful non-operative treatment without an appendectomy. In the non-operative group there were 21 (15%) failures during the first admission. Thirty-four recurrences happened after discharge, all with a diagnostic code of acute appendicitis. After successful initial treatment, 82/116 (71%) remained without appendectomy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Study III, through a systematic search we were able to identify 2343 abstracts. Thirty studies were eligible, 8 randomised controlled trials and 22 prospective cohort studies reporting 27 different patient cohorts. An early failure rate occurred in 10% (95% CI 7-14%) and the recurrence rate was 29% (95% CI 24-34%) at the end of follow-up. When analysing studies with faecalith, a failure rate was higher (17% versus 6.4%) with P-value &lt;0.0001.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Conclusions: Studies I and II demonstrated intermediate- and long-term safety of non- operative treatment alone in children and adults. This treatment does not increase the risk of malignancy and other complications and patients avoid surgery. Study III demonstrated a low initial failure rate and the recurrence rate was 29%. Non-operative treatment was less successful in children with a faecalith, particularly during first admission. These results can be used for discussion about treatment options of uncomplicated appendicitis with child patients and their caregivers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;List of scientific papers&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;I. &lt;b&gt;Patkova B&lt;/b&gt;, Svenningsson A, Almström M, Eaton S, Wester T, Svensson JF. Nonoperative Treatment Versus Appendectomy for Acute Nonperforated Appendicitis in Children: Five-year Follow Up of a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial. Ann Surg. 2020 Jun;271(6):1030-1035. &lt;a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000003646"&gt;https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000003646&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;II. &lt;b&gt;Pátková B,&lt;/b&gt; Svenningsson A, Almström M, Svensson JF, Eriksson S, Wester T, Eaton S. Long-Term Outcome of Nonoperative Treatment of Appendicitis. JAMA Surg. 2023 Oct 1;158(10):1105-1106. &lt;a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.2756"&gt;https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.2756&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;III. &lt;b&gt;Patková B&lt;/b&gt;, Svenningsson A, Jumah S, Wester T, Eaton S. Failure and recurrence of non-operative treatment of uncomplicated appendicitis in children; a systematic review and meta-analysis. [Manuscript]&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Acute appendicitis is a clinical term for inflammation of the vermiform appendix with a sudden onset. Symptoms depend both on the age of a patient and on the position of appendix intraabdominally. The aetiology remains unknown, although, there are multiple theories. The lifetime risk of acute appendicitis in Western countries has been established as 7-8%, with 8.6% for males and 6.7% for females. The standard treatment has been surgery for many decades, but non-operative treatment, in the form of antibiotics, has more recently come to light as a feasible alternative to appendectomies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Aims: The aim of this thesis was to assess intermediate and long-term outcomes of non- operative treatment in both children and adults. This included assessing safety and feasibility of non-operative treatment and its complications. An additional aim was to ascertain the failure rate of non-operative treatment and recurrence of acute uncomplicated appendicitis in children and try to establish the reasons for the treatment failure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Methods: Study I was a 5-year follow-up of all participants who underwent surgery or non- operative treatment with antibiotics in a previous randomised controlled pilot trial. Data was extracted from the hospital notes and telephone interviews.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Study II was a long-term follow-up of adults with acute appendicitis who were involved in two randomised controlled trials, which compared non-operative treatment with appendectomy. The first trial consisted of 40 patients (13 female) and second trial was a multicentre study with 252 male patients. National registers were used to retrieve data at follow up, including the Swedish National Patient Register, the Cancer Register, the Cause of Death Register and Statistics Sweden.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Study III was a systematic review that was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024592607) and done according to PRISMA statement. We searched three databases (PubMed, Medline, Web of Science). Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials or prospective cohort studies with children aged &lt;18 years that received non-operative treatment for uncomplicated appendicitis and reporting at least 30 days follow-up. We carried out a meta- analysis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Results: In Study I, we followed up all 50 children (26 children in the appendectomy group, 24 children in the nonoperative group) for at least 5 years. The surgical group was without failures and in the nonoperative group there were 11 failures and recurrences. In the first year there were nine failures, two of them had an appendicitis on the histopathology. Another two recurrences, that were histopathologically confirmed appendicitis occurred one to five years after the initial trial. At the 5-year follow-up, 54% of children had been successfully treated nonoperatively with antibiotics alone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Study II, in total, we were able to trace down 259 patients in the Patient Register, 137 patients in the non-operative group and 122 in the surgical group. At the end of follow-up, 82 (60%) patients had had successful non-operative treatment without an appendectomy. In the non-operative group there were 21 (15%) failures during the first admission. Thirty-four recurrences happened after discharge, all with a diagnostic code of acute appendicitis. After successful initial treatment, 82/116 (71%) remained without appendectomy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Study III, through a systematic search we were able to identify 2343 abstracts. Thirty studies were eligible, 8 randomised controlled trials and 22 prospective cohort studies reporting 27 different patient cohorts. An early failure rate occurred in 10% (95% CI 7-14%) and the recurrence rate was 29% (95% CI 24-34%) at the end of follow-up. When analysing studies with faecalith, a failure rate was higher (17% versus 6.4%) with P-value &lt;0.0001.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Conclusions: Studies I and II demonstrated intermediate- and long-term safety of non- operative treatment alone in children and adults. This treatment does not increase the risk of malignancy and other complications and patients avoid surgery. Study III demonstrated a low initial failure rate and the recurrence rate was 29%. Non-operative treatment was less successful in children with a faecalith, particularly during first admission. These results can be used for discussion about treatment options of uncomplicated appendicitis with child patients and their caregivers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;List of scientific papers&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;I. &lt;b&gt;Patkova B&lt;/b&gt;, Svenningsson A, Almström M, Eaton S, Wester T, Svensson JF. Nonoperative Treatment Versus Appendectomy for Acute Nonperforated Appendicitis in Children: Five-year Follow Up of a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial. Ann Surg. 2020 Jun;271(6):1030-1035. &lt;a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000003646"&gt;https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000003646&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;II. &lt;b&gt;Pátková B,&lt;/b&gt; Svenningsson A, Almström M, Svensson JF, Eriksson S, Wester T, Eaton S. Long-Term Outcome of Nonoperative Treatment of Appendicitis. JAMA Surg. 2023 Oct 1;158(10):1105-1106. &lt;a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.2756"&gt;https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.2756&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;III. &lt;b&gt;Patková B&lt;/b&gt;, Svenningsson A, Jumah S, Wester T, Eaton S. Failure and recurrence of non-operative treatment of uncomplicated appendicitis in children; a systematic review and meta-analysis. [Manuscript]&lt;/p&gt;

The prevalence of bacteremia in acute appendicitis is unknown. We aimed to assess prevalence and predictive factors of bacteremia in adult patients with appendicitis. In this prospective propensity score-matched cohort study, patients were recruited as part of one single-center prospective observational study assessing appendicitis microbiology in concurrence with two randomized controlled trials on non-operative treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis. All patients evaluated for enrollment in these three trials between April 2017 and December 2018 with both a confirmed diagnosis of appendicitis and available blood culture on admission were included in this study. Potential predictive factors of bacteremia (age, sex, body mass index (BMI), body temperature, C-reactive protein (CRP), leukocyte count, comorbidities, symptom duration, and appendicitis severity) were assessed. Prevalence of bacteremia was determined by all available blood cultures followed by propensity score matching using sex, age, BMI, CRP, leukocyte count, and body temperature of the patients without available blood culture. Out of the 815 patients with appendicitis, 271 patients had available blood culture and the prevalence of bacteremia was 12% (n = 33). Based on propensity score estimation, the prevalence of bacteremia in the whole prospective appendicitis cohort was 11.1%. Bacteremia was significantly more frequent in complicated acute appendicitis (15%; 29/189) compared with uncomplicated acute appendicitis (5%; 4/82) (p = 0.015). Male sex (p = 0.024) and higher body temperature (p = 0.0044) were associated with bacteremia. Estimated prevalence of bacteremia in patients with acute appendicitis was 11.1%. Complicated appendicitis, male sex, and higher body temperature were associated with bacteremia in acute appendicitis.

Increasing evidence suggests that non-operative management (NOM) with antibiotics could serve as a safe alternative to surgery for the treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis (AA). However, accurately differentiating between uncomplicated and complicated AA remains challenging. Our aim was to develop and validate machine-learning-based diagnostic models to differentiate uncomplicated from complicated AA. This was a multicenter cohort trial conducted from January 2021 and December 2022 across five tertiary hospitals. Three distinct diagnostic models were created, namely, the clinical-parameter-based model, the CT-radiomics-based model, and the clinical-radiomics-fused model. These models were developed using a comprehensive set of eight machine-learning algorithms, which included logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), gradient boosting (GB), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB), and multi-layer perceptron (MLP). The performance and accuracy of these diverse models were compared. All models exhibited excellent diagnostic performance in the training cohort, achieving a maximal AUC of 1.00. For the clinical-parameter model, the GB classifier yielded the optimal AUC of 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64–0.90) in the testing cohort, while the LR classifier yielded the optimal AUC of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.66–0.86) in the validation cohort. For the CT-radiomics-based model, GB classifier achieved the best AUC of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.60–0.88) in the testing cohort, and SVM yielded an optimal AUC of 0.63 (95% CI: 0.51–0.75) in the validation cohort. For the clinical-radiomics-fused model, RF classifier yielded an optimal AUC of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.74–0.95) in the testing cohort and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.67–0.86) in the validation cohort. An open-access, user-friendly online tool was developed for clinical application. This multicenter study suggests that the clinical-radiomics-fused model, constructed using RF algorithm, effectively differentiated between complicated and uncomplicated AA.

The work is dedicated to the features of the clinic, diagnosis, and treatment of acute appendicitis (AA) in patients with the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). An analysis of 73 cases of diagnosis and treatment of AA in patients with COVID-19 in an infectious diseases hospital was conducted. In patients with COVID-19, immunopathological reactions, disturbances of consciousness, and the administration of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory therapy complicated the diagnosis of concurrent AA, leading to a smoothing or complete absence of local pain symptoms, an inability to fully collect complaints and medical history, and the presence of leukopenia. In patients with severe COVID-19 with disturbances of consciousness according to the Glasgow Coma Scale up to 9–13 points, CT grade 4, and respiratory failure of the 3rd degree, the basis for targeted diagnostic search for acute surgical pathology of the abdominal cavity of an inflammatory nature was the progressive increase in leukocytosis in the complete blood count, refractory to the administered antibacterial and anti-inflammatory therapy, in combination with values of CRP and procalcitonin (PCT) exceeding their average values in the group of patients with COVID-19. With an increase in the severity of COVID-19, the final diagnosis of AA was possible only when using additional instrumental diagnostic methods and performing diagnostic laparotomies (laparoscopies). A direct correlation was found between the severity of COVID-19 and an increase in the frequency of gangrenous forms of AA and secondary AA. The number of postoperative complications in AA was directly correlated with the severity of COVID-19. Fatal outcomes occurred only in patients with severe COVID-19 due to the progression of multiorgan failure.

BackgroundIn children with acute appendicitis, 30% to 75% present with a complication, such as perforation, and the early diagnosis of complications is known to improve outcomes. Serum delta neutrophil index (DNI) and myeloperoxidase index (MPXI) are new inflammatory markers, and thus, in the present study, the authors evaluated the predictive values of these two markers for the presence of a complication in children with acute appendicitis.MethodsThis retrospective observational study was conducted on 105 consecutive children (<12 years old) with acute appendicitis treated over a 31-month period. DNI, MPXI, C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cells (WBCs) were measured in an emergency department and investigated with respect to their abilities to predict the presence of acute complicated appendicitis.ResultsTwenty-nine of the 105 patients (median age, 9 years) were allocated to the complicated group (27.6%) and 76 to the non-complicated group (72.4%). Median serum DNI and CRP were significantly higher in the complicated group [0% vs. 2.2%, p<0.001 and 0.65 mg/dL vs. 8.0 mg/dL, p<0.001], but median MPXI was not (p = 0.316). Area under curve (AUC) for the ability of serum DNI and CRP to predict the presence of acute complicated appendicitis were 0.738 and 0.840, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed initial CRP [odds ratio 1.301, 95% confidence interval (1.092–1.549), p = 0.003] significantly predicted the presence of a complication. The optimal cutoff for serum CRP was 4.0 mg/dL (sensitivity 69%, specificity 83%, AUC 0.840).ConclusionsAlthough serum DNI values were significantly higher in children with acute complicated appendicitis, no evidence was obtained to support the notion that serum DNI or serum MPXI aid the differentiation of acute complicated and non-complicated appendicitis in the ED setting.

Laparoscopic treatment of simple acute appendicitis (AA) is a safe procedure; however, there are doubts about its safety in cases of complicated AA. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in results of laparoscopic treatment between cases of complicated versus simple AA. We prospectively included all patients treated for suspected AA by two surgeons of our service between May 2002 and May 2007. Of 221 patients, 20 were excluded from the study because the laparoscopic approach was not possible; 116 of 201 had uncomplicated AA, 57 complicated AA, 12 gynecologic ethiology, 11 negative appendectomy, and 5 other causes; patients without acute appendicitis were also excluded from the study. In all cases, laparoscopy was the first treatment option. The following variables were considered: mean surgical time, reconversions, emergency readmissions, emergency reinterventions or invasive procedures, mean postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complications (i.e., infectious or noninfectious). Our results showed statistically significantly worse results, in terms of surgical time, postoperative stay, reconversions, and infectious complications, for patients with complicated versus uncomplicated AA; however, no differences were observed regarding noninfectious complications, emergency readmissions, and emergency reinterventions or invasive procedures. We consider that laparoscopic treatment of complicated AA may be safely used, despite worse results than in cases of simple AA, since the differences in numbers of severe postoperative complications requiring emergency readmission, reintervention, or invasive procedures were not statistically significant.