1. Literature summary

    Compared with medical treatment (antibiotics, local cooling, etc.) in patients with clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis, surgery results in:

      • Lower rate of recurrent appendicitis
      • Similar length of hospital stay and work disability
      • Higher pain intensity during the first few days 

    Compared with medical treatment in patients with chronic right lower quadrant pain, surgery results in:

      • Less pain in the long run
      • Slightly higher rates of adverse events

    Regarding incidental appendectomy in asymptomatic patients, there are:

      • No results from high-quality trials.

    In open appendectomy simple ligation of the appendiceal stump versus stump inversion (= purse string suture) resulted in:

      • Comparable or even lower rates of local complications 
      • Shorter operating times

    Patients with suspected appendicitis may already be administered analgesics upon hospitalization because:

      • This reduces pain effectively
      • Without affecting the physical examination of the abdomen
  2. Ongoing trials on this topic

  3. References on this topic

    1. Engström L, Fenyö G. Appendicectomy: assessment of stump invagination versus simple ligation: a prospective, randomized trial. Br J Surg 1985; 72: 971-2.
    2. Eriksson S, Granström L. Randomized controlled trial of appendicectomy versus antibiotic therapy for acute appendicitis Br J Surg 1995; 82: 166-9.
    3. Jacobs PP, Koeyers GF, Bruyninckx CM. [Simple ligation superior to inversion of the appendiceal stump; a prospective randomized study]. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1992; 136: 1020-3.
    4. Manterola C, Astudillo P, Losada H, Pineda V, Sanhueza A, Vial M. Analgesia in patients with acute abdominal pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007: CD005660.
    5. Ranji SR, Goldman LE, Simel DL, Shojania KG. Do opiates affect the clinical evaluation of patients with acute abdominal pain? JAMA 2006; 296: 1764-74.
    6. Roumen RMH, Groenendijk RPR, Sloots CEJ, Duthoi KES, Scheltinga MRM, Bruijninckx CMA. Randomized clinical trial evaluating elective laparoscopic appendicectomy for chronic right lower-quadrant pain. Br J Surg 2008; 95: 169-74.
    7. Styrud J, Eriksson S, Nilsson I, Ahlberg G, Haapaniemi S, Neovius G, Rex L, Badume I, Granström L. Appendectomy versus antibiotic treatment in acute appendicitis. a prospective multicenter randomized controlled trial. World J Surg 2006; 30: 1033-7.
    8. Watters DA, Walker MA, Abernethy BC. The appendix stump: should it be invaginated? Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1984; 66: 92-3.
Reviews

Wu Z, Zhao L, Liu Y, Qian S, Wu L, Liu X. Fibrinogen as a Marker of Overall and Complicated Acute A

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