Assessment of demographic, clinical and histopathological features of patients who underwent appendectomy due to a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis

Abstract

Background: To compare the clinical, biochemical, and histopathological features of patients who underwent appendectomy due to a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AAp).

Methods: The demographic, biochemical and histopathological data of 8206 patients who underwent appendectomy for AAp between January 2006 and March 2014 were retrospectively analyzed in this study. Patients were compared regarding the following characteristics: disruption by season (autumn vs. winter vs. spring vs. summer), working days (weekdays vs. weekends), histopathological findings (AAp vs. normal appendix [NAp]) and histopathological subgroup (non-perforated AAp vs. perforated AAp vs. NAp).

Results: Of the 8206 patients aged between 16 and 89 years, 4763 (58.0%) were male. Appendectomy distribution by season was as follows: autumn (n=1959; 23.9%), winter (n=2062; 25.1%), spring (n=2061; 25.1%) and summer (n=2124, 25.9%). NAp rates were higher in summer than those in other seasons. White blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil levels were significantly higher in autumn and winter compared with those in other seasons. In total, 6120 (74.6%) appendectomies occurred on weekdays and 2086 (25.4%) on weekends. WBC and neutrophil levels were significantly higher on weekends than those on weekdays. Appendectomy distribution by histopathological groups as follows: AAp (n=7414; 90.3%) and NAp (n=792; 9.7%). Appendectomy distribution by histopathological subgroups was as follows: non-perforated AAp (n=6966; 84.9%), perforated AAp (n=448; 5.5%), and NAp (n=792; 9.7%). WBC, neutrophil, and TBil levels in the non-perforated and perforated AAp groups were significantly higher than in the NAp group. While most of the patients with perforated AAp (62.1%) and non-perforated AAp (59.6%) were males, most of the patients with NAp (58.1%) were females.

Conclusion: This study suggests that a relationship exists between demographic features, histopathological findings of appendectomy specimens, seasons, days of the week, and working days in patients undergoing appendectomy.