대한대장항문학회

Backgrounds : This study was performed to evaluate our experience on laparoscopic appendectomy.<br>Methods : Retrospective analysis was performed on 2,856 patients who had been operated by laparoscopic appendectomy under diagnosis of acute appendicitis at the Sung-Ae Hospital and Kwang-Myoung Sung-Ae Hospital from October 1991 to July 1998.<br>Results : Among 2,856 patients who had undergone laparoscopic appendectomy,2,379 patients (83.3%) were operated due to simple acute appendicitis, 275 patients (9.6%) due to perforated appendicitis. Operation time was 44.6 minutes for simple acute<br>appendicitis and 60.3 minutes for perforated appendicitis. In perforated appendicitis, intra-peritoneal irrigation and drain insertion was performed. The length of hospital stay in patient with simple acute appendicitis was 3.7 days (5.82 days in<br>conventional appendectomy) and patients with perfotrated appendicitis was 6.1 days (9.91 days in conventional appen-dectomy). Complications such as wound infection, intra-abdomen abscess, trocar site bleeding, subcutaneous emphysema developed in 43<br>(1.5%) patients (79/1,947, 4.5% in conventional appendectomy). In 202 (7.1%) patients, appendix was normal, but another diseases were detected, including acute pelvic inflammation, ovarian cyst, mesenteric lymphadenitis, enteritis, diverticulitis in<br>order.<br>Conclusions : Overall complication rate was lower in laparoscopic appendectomy compared with conventional appendectomy and the length of hospitalization of laparoscopic appendectomy was shorter. When the acute appendicitis is suspected, especially in<br>the reproductive women, the laparoscopic approach would be better diagnostic and therapeutic value than conventional method. Therefore laparoscopic appendectomy would be replaced with conventional appendectomy.<br>