Outcome of delaying appendectomy more than 12 hours

Abstract EN

Objective : To assess the outcome of delaying appendectomy more than twelve hours.

Design : Retrospective study.

Setting : Herra General Hospital, Makkah.

Method : Two hundred and forty-five positive pathological report of acute appendicitis from 10th February to 6th April 2008 were reviewed.

The patients were divided into two groups.

The early group comprised of patients who had undergone appendectomies within 12 hours of hospital admission.

The late group comprised patients who had undergone appendectomies after more than 12 hours of admission.

The measure of outcomes, length of stay, operative time, rate of perforation and complications were analyzed.

Result : From 10th February to 6th April 2008, 245 cases of appendectomy were included in the present study, 142 males and 103 females.

Their age ranged from 6 to 71 years, an average of 20.59 + 9.89 years and a median of 18 years.

Two hundred patients were in the early group (operated within 12 hours of admission) and 45 patients were in late group (operated after 12 hours of admission).

We found that there is no difference in age, sex, operative time, rate of perforation and early or late postoperative complications.

Conclusion : This study shows that in simple uncomplicated acute appendicitis, delaying appendectomies for more than 12 hours after hospital admission does not affect the outcome.