Laparoscopy is used more and more frequently in the treatment of abdominal emergencies including acute appendicitis. This technique has a lot of advantages especially in the group of the young female patients, where the differential diagnosis between gynecological diseases and appendicitis is difficult.
Aim of the study: The study is designed to compare the results of open and laparoscopic exploration in patients with suspected appendicitis.
Material and methods: From 1998-2001 we performed 278 operations for suspicion of appendicitis in the 2nd Dept. of Surgery of the Jagiellonian University. There were 127 laparoscopic procedures performed in 46 men and 81 women (mean age 28.6 years) and 151 classical exploration in 99 men and 52 women (mean age 37.9 years). We reviewed retrospectively the patients' data analysing age, sex, duration of the procedure, length of the hospital stay, intraoperative and postoperative complication rate.
Results: The patients operated classically were older than patients operated laparoscopically. The proportion of male and female patients was reversed in both types of exploration. The female patients composed a majority (2/3) in the case of laparoscopic procedures and minority (1/3) in the case of open operations. The average duration of open appendectomy was 43 min. as compared with 49 min. of laparoscopic procedure, which was however getting shorter in the analysed period. The mean length of the hospital stay was twice shorter after laparoscopic appendectomy (4.8 days vs 8.4 days). There were only 4 (3.15%) complications connected with laparoscopic technique and 34 (22.52%) complications after open appendectomy. There were 12 (9.45%) conversions, most of them in patients with the retrocoecal position of the appendix. The diagnosis of acute appendicitis was confirmed in similar percentage in both operation types (laparoscopy--78.74%, open technique--79.47%). There were also similar proportions of the patients with no macroscopical changes in the appendix and with other abdominal diseases.
Conclusions: Laparoscopy allows for the precise diagnosis and final treatment in most patients with the suspected acute appendicitis. Some patients also avoid laparotomy. Hospital stay is significantly shorter and complication rate is markedly lower among patients operated laparoscopically.