EARLY COMPLICATION AND RE-ADMISSION AFTER LAPAROSCOPIC AND OPEN APPENDECTOMY

Aim: There are minimal data available that compares the rate of wound infection, and re-admission after discharge of patients who undergone either laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) or open appendectomy (OA). Methods: We reviewed retrospectively 235 consecutive cases of patients who underwent laparoscopic and 250 patient who had open appendectomy from January 2004 to March 2009 in the university hospital. Main outcome measures included post operative wound infection that necessitated draining of the wound or readmission for intra-abdominal collection, paralytic ileus or intestinal obstruction. Results: There were 9 patients in the open appendectomy group who were re-admitted to the hospital with wound infection and were managed by drainage of the wound , while in the Laparoscopic group there was no re admission due to infection. Conclusion: LA is associated with no wound infection which necessitate re-admission or surgery. The length of hospital stay is the same if the wound infection is excluded from the open method. LA has lesser rate of wound infection and re-admission of patients. We recommend that LA to be the first choice offered for all patient with acute appendicitis