Abstract

Aim: Timing of appendectomy is still being debated. In our study, we investigated whether delaying appendectomy for 6-12 hours negatively affects the outcome of the child with acute appendicitis.

Material and Method: Medical records of 1258 patients who were operated with initial diagnosis of appendicitis between January 2000 and December 2007 were reviewed, retrospectively. Patients included in the study were divided into two groups according to the time interval between referrals to the emergency service and the time of entrance into the operating room. Group 1 contained the patients (n=308) who were operated within 6 hours of their referrals, and Group 2 consisted of patients (n=487) whose operations were delayed for 6-12 hours. Total operation time, surgical wound site infection, requirements for antibiotics, and analgesics, and the duration of hospital stay were recorded.

Results: In our retrospective study, there were no statistically significant difference between Groups 1 and 2 in terms of age, sex, weight, and white blood cell count and body temperature. Moreover,the rate of postoperative complications did not differ between two groups.

Conclusion: In our retrospective study, we have concluded that, in patients with initial diagnosis of appendicitis, 12 hour- delay in appendectomy due to various causes does not increase the rate of complications and does not affect the outcome of patients adversely.