Abstract

In this prospective study, the association between delay in diagnosis and surgical treatment, and the stages and complications of acute appendicitis was investigated. Despite improvement in techniques, diagnosis of acute appendicitis still remains challenging and complications of disease and rate of negative laparotomy have not been reduced significantly. One hundred twenty-four patients with diagnosis of acute appendicitis underwent surgery between July 1999 and July 2000. Clinical and pathological findings, duration of symptoms, age, sex, postoperative complications and length of hospital stay were recorded and analyzed statistically. Among the patients,70 were males (56.5%), 54 were females (43.5%) and mean age was 24.7 years. Accurate diagnosis of acute appendicitis was 84.7%, negative appendectomy rate was 15.3% and negative exploration rate was 8.1%. The study results showed that delay in admission of patients to the hospital following onset of symptoms (55.7 ± 26.5 h) results in complicated appendicitis. In patients with negative appendectomies, durations between admission to hospital-surgical consultation and surgical consultation-decision of operation was longer than complicated and noncomplicated appendicitis.