Emergency appendicectomy in the era of laparoscopy: a one-year audit

Abstract

Appendicectomy for acute appendicitis is the commonest emergency surgical operation. With widespread acceptance of minimal access surgery most appendicectomies are now performed laparoscopically. The aim of this study was to assess whether the rate of normal appendicectomy has changed following the introduction of laparoscopic techniques in our institution. A retrospective study of patients having emergency appendicectomies over a 1-year period (2005) in a large teaching hospital was undertaken. A comparison of data was made from a prior study performed at the same hospital in 1988. 196 adult patients underwent appendectomies during this period. The normal appendectomy rate was 10.2% compared to 22.8% in the previous study. This rate was twice as high in women of reproductive age as compared to men. There has been widespread uptake of laparoscopic appendectomy in our hospital. This technique has reduced the rate of histologically normal appendicectomies due to intra-operative visualization of the appendix.