Laparoscopic appendectomy versus mini-incision appendectomy- a comparative clinical study

Abstract

Background: Minimal invasive surgical approaches for appendicitis are becoming the norm. Semm first described the laparoscopic approach for acute appendicitis in 1983. Mini-incision appendectomy is being performed in our setting for quite a long time now, especially in patients with uncomplicated appendicitis, and it was worthwhile to compare it with the laparoscopic approach.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the safety and benefits of laparoscopic versus mini-incision appendectomy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective comparative study was conducted in 101 patients belonging to the age group of 14 to 60 years. Patients were randomly taken either for LA (49) or MIA group (52) .

RESULTS: The mean age of the MIA group and LA group were 31.9±13.06 and 32.4±14.34, respectively. The groups were similar in age, sex, and preoperative laboratory findings. The mean operative duration, length of hospital stay, post-operative pain, post-operative complications, resumption of orals, and use of narcotic analgesics was less for LA group as compared to MIA group with a significant statistical difference (p <0.001) . Further, the patients in the LA group returned to normal work earlier than the MIA group (p < 0.001) .

CONCLUSION: Our study found that laparoscopic appendectomy is an effective and safe procedure irrespective of age and sex of the patient. LA has added advantage of less intra-operative time, early resumption of orals, less post-op hospital stay, less requirement of analgesic, and early return to normal work.