Patient characteristics and diagnostic approach in appendectomised patients

In cases of acute appendicitis, when considering that typical symptoms are observed in only 60% of the patients, preoperative definite diagnosis carries some difficulties even for the most experienced surgeons. The necessity for diversification of diagnostic methods is a requirement to decrease the rate of negative appendectomy risk of the surgeon. The present study aimed to investigate the patient characteristics of cases who had undergone appendectomy due to acute appendicitis. The patients undergoing appendectomy in the General Surgery Clinic of our hospital between September 2013 and December 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Appendectomies were performed to a total of 141 patients. The ratio of acute appendicitis in the pathology results of the patients in which surgery was decided according to the physical examination findings without ultrasonography was 79.6%; this ratio was73.1% in patients in which acute appendicitis was suspected in ultrasonography and this ratio was 55% in patients in which the appendix could not be visualized in the ultrasonography. We think that a good assessment in the preoperative period is one of the most important factors that would decrease the rate of negative laparotomy and increase the rate of effective treatment.