Comorbidity has been proven to increase hospital costs and length of hospital stays in patients receiving appendectomy for the treatment of acute appendicitis. However, the specific comorbidities that independently influence discrepancy of hospital costs and length of stay between open appendectomy and laparoscopic appendectomy still need to be elucidated. Using multivariate linear analysis, a...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic appendectomy versus open appendectomy at Baptist Hospital in Miami, Florida. METHODS A retrospective review was performed on all appendectomies performed at Baptist Hospital from October 1, 1994 to September 30, 1995. There were a total of 244 cases; 137 open appendectomies and 107 laparoscopic appendecto...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The use of training models in laparoscopic surgery allows the surgical team to practice procedures in a safe environment. The aim of this study was to determine the capability of an inanimate laparoscopic appendectomy model to discriminate between different levels of surgical experience (construct validity). METHODS The performance of 3 groups with different levels of...

BACKGROUND Postoperative serum inflammatory cytokine levels are thought to reflect the magnitude of surgical stress. Cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an early marker of systemic inflammatory response and tissue damage. This study evaluated levels of IL-6 after open and laparoscopic appendectomy to compare the degree of surgical stress associated with these procedures. METHODS IL-6 levels were...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy was once considered a contraindication to laparoscopic cholecystectomy and appendectomy. The progression of laparoscopic techniques has resulted in a continued reassessment of laparoscopic procedures during pregnancy. There still exists some controversy as to the safety of laparoscopic procedures during pregnancy. This paper reviews our series of six pregnant patients treat...

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the world. We aimed to compare laparoscopic and open appendectomy in the elderly in our experience. METHODS We performed a retrospective review of elderly patients who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis from 1st of January 2006 to the 31st of July 2012. We analyzed...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To compare laparoscopic appendectomy with traditional open appendectomy. METHODS Seventy-one patients requiring operative intervention for suspected acute appendicitis were prospectively compared. Thirty-seven patients underwent laparoscopic appendectomy, and 34 had open appendectomy through a right lower quadrant incision. Length of surgery, postoperative morbidity ...

BACKGROUND Complicated appendicitis (gangrenous or perforated) has been associated with increased risk for postoperative complications, especially intraabdominal abscess. Caution has been advised when attempting laparoscopic appendectomy for complicated appendicitis in children. The objective of our study was to assess the incidence of intraabdominal abscess formation after laparoscopic appende...

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in developed countries. The treatment of acute appendicitis is either open or laparoscopic appendectomy. The latter has gained widely acceptance in the past years, although the debate on the true merits of laparoscopic appendectomy is still on going. Some authors prefer this approach as the gold standard for all cases, but in our opinion ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Single-incision laparoscopic surgery is becoming more widely used, but few combined procedures have been reported. Herein we share our experience with single-incision laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy. METHODS We reviewed data from 26 patients who underwent single-incision laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy between May 1, 2009...