Two-Year Experiences of 500 Appendectomies in Lahore General Hospital, Lahore.

Abstract

IntroductionAcute appendicitis is a leading cause of abdominal conditions in emergency departments. Evidence from research studies has indicated the efficacies of surgical procedures involving appendectomies. However, in Pakistan, there is a paucity of information regarding the epidemiology, clinical presentations, and surgical management of acute appendicitis.ObjectiveThis paper aims to report the epidemiologic data and findings of surgical management of acute appendicitis in Lahore General Hospital (LGH). The data was based on our two-year experiences of appendectomies in the hospital.Materials and methodologyData were collected retrospectively. The patients underwent appendectomies performed by the team of surgeons of Surgical Unit 1 of LGH in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department from July 2019 to October 2021.ResultsThe total number of patients was 506, and the mean age was 26.8. Males (67.29%) and young adults aged 18-34 years were at higher risk of appendicitis. Compared to other surgical procedures performed, open appendectomy and laparoscopic appendectomy operative times were significantly shorter. Histopathology of all the cases showed acute inflammation of the appendix.DiscussionSimilar to findings from other research studies, the operative time of open appendectomies was shorter (70.6 minutes) in the hospital than the operative time of laparoscopic appendectomies (77 minutes). However, the overall operative times were longer than the operative times reported in some other research studies. Also, contrary to other research findings, open appendectomy (1.22 days) was associated with a longer length of hospital stay than laparoscopic appendectomy (≈1 day). Simple acute appendicitis was the most predominant operation findings (289, 57.1%).ConclusionCompared to other hospitals, the shorter hospital stays/recovery time indicated the high surgical skill of performing open and laparoscopic appendectomies in Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.