Incidence of negative appendicectomy: retrospective follow-up of histopathology specimens

Abstract

Background: Diagnosing acute appendicitis (AA) remains challenging in spite of multiple modern diagnostic tools, therefore normal appendices may be removed in some patients thought to have AA. Negative appendectomy remains a concern in current surgical practice. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of negative appendectomy in Ibra hospital in North Sharqiya, Oman.Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 515 appendectomies carried out at Ibra hospital, North Sharqiya, Oman between January 2019 and December 2021. The final diagnosis was based on histopathology reports which were retrieved.Results: A total of 515 appendectomies were performed during the study period. The mean age of the patients was 22.76 years (range, 10-70 years). Patients older than 12 years represented 81.4% of the study population. Female patients accounted for 47% of all the patients. The negative appendectomy rate (NAR) was 9.7% (50 patients). Out of these 50 negative appendectomies, 24 patients were adult females, 21 were adult males and 5 patients were children (4 female and 1 male). The female sex accounted for 56% of the negative appendectomies.Conclusions: female sex is a risk factor for negative appendicectomy. Most studies have suggested that CT is efficacious only in decreasing the NAR among women; we found that men benefited from CT as well.