G. V. Prakash, Budamala Sarada, Pavani Chandra, Suman Babu, Sireesha Rani, Bhargavi
BACKGROUND: Appendicectomy is the most common surgery done by a trainee general surgeon. Recent advances like laparoscopic appendicectomy is growing nowadays. We wanted to compare the parameters like operating time, post-operative pain and number of days it takes to come to back to work in patients who underwent laparoscopic and open appendicectomy and give significance of laparoscopic appendicectomy over open appendicectomy.
METHODS: 120 patients aged between 13 to 60 years of age were studied prospectively under two groups; 60 cases under laparoscopic appendicectomy group and open appendicectomy group. Age distribution, sex distribution, operation time, conversion rate and post-operative pain, intraoperative and post-operative complications, post hospital stay and days to return to normal activity are studied and compared.
RESULTS: Mean operation time between the two groups is not significantly different between the two groups. Conversion rate was 3.3% for laparoscopic appendicectomy. Postoperative pain, duration of hospital stay and return to normal activity are significantly less in laparoscopic appendicectomy.
CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic appendicectomy is more advantageous to patients in terms duration of hospital stay and less post-op pain and requires less time to return to normal daily activity compared to open appendicectomy. But the learning curve for laparoscopy is the difficult part to the surgeon.
