EVALUATION OF PERI-HOSPITAL DELAY ON OUTCOMES OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE APPENDICITIS agbaje1@gmail.com

 

EVALUATION OF PERI-HOSPITAL DELAY ON OUTCOMES OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE APPENDICITIS

4

Nigeria

Oral or Poster

It remains undetermined whether delayed appendectomy increases the risk of perforation in patients with acute appendicitis and some reports say nonperforated and perforated cases may be two distinct diseases rather than being a continuum in the disease spectrum. The role of perioperative delays is yet to be evalauted in our setting.

We condcuted a retrospective hospital based study at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Nigeria, looking at all patients who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis over a 5 year period. We retrieved medical records and took note of duration of perioperative delay and intraoperative findings.

We reviwed 189 cases. The majority of patients (31.2%) presented 72 hours or more following onset of symptoms while the mean in- hospital delay was 24.99hrs. The common reasons include delay in procuring materials and non-availability of theatre space. No significant difference in both pre-hospital and in-hospital delays between patients with non-ruptured and ruptured appendicitis.

This allows safe scheduling of appendectomies, avoiding nighttime surgery, which is associated with poorer outcomes. It also provides evidence to allow prioritization of more emergent cases when there is competition for theatre space.