Clinical research. Acute appendicitis in children. Review of 324 operated cases

A retrospective review was made of 324 operated cases of acute appendicitis for sixteen years from 1989 to 2005. For seven years from 1999 to 2005, an additional review was made of 63 cases where patients visited our department on suspicion of acute appendicitis and received medical treatment without operation. Cases of hospitalization on suspicion of appendicitis averaged 18 a year for 1999 to 2005, with half these being appendicitis or peritonitis due to perforated appendicitis. The number of cases by age groups for those with acute appendicitis reached 25 per year in 1997 but fell off from 1998 onwards. Out of the total 324 cases, 179 were boys, 145 were girls, and there were 188 cases of acute appendicitis and 136 cases of perforated appendicitis. There were 23 cases of catarrhal appendicitis, with three cases out of the 63 cases overall of the last seven years. There were 66 cases for ages 0 to 6, 168 cases for ages 7 to 11, and 90 cases for ages 12 to 20, the peak age group being 7 to 11. Perforated appendicitis occurred in 65.2% of cases involving infants under six, which is relatively high compared to the 36.0% of the over seven age grouping. There were 112 cases of fecalith out of the 324 overall cases, 24.5% of acute appendicitis cases and 48.5% of perforated appendicitis cases. Over the last seven years ultrasound examination made visible the inflamed appendix in 41 cases of 46 (89.1%) for acute appendicitis and in 16 cases of 17 (94.1%) for perforated appendicitis. CT scans were used in five cases of acute appendicitis/perforated appendicitis out of the 324 overall cases. Five of the 63 cases of surgical operations from 1999 to 2005 involved surgery made after diagnosis of acute appendicitis after follow-up hospitalization. Types of operations involved 11 cases of laparoscopic appendectomy, the remaining 313 operations involving classical open appendectomy. (author)