In an attempt to observe difficulty of the operative technic and postoperative complication of incidental appendectomy, an inversion-ligation technique was employed in 35 clean laparatomy cases who were admitted to the Department of Surgery, Kyungpook Nationi University Hospital, during the period between January, 1980 and December, 1982.
The results were as follows:
Their ages ranged from 1 month to 53 years and 68.6% of the patients were under the age of 1 year old.
There were 25 male and 10 female patients.
There was no technical difficulties performing incidental appendectomy in any age group.
General complication occured in 5 cases(14.2%) in incidental appendectomy group. The most frequent complication was upper respiratory infection(3 cases).
No specific complications occured at the operative sites in any of the cases involving incidental removal of appendix.
Incidental removal of appendix by inversion plus ligation of the base and inversion of the stump eliminates the appendix without contamination of the operative fields and provides a necrosing suture assuring that appendix will slough leaving only a short stump.
Incidental appendectomy using an inversion and ligation technique is thought to be a safe, simple, and uncomplicated procedure in clean laparatomy cases.
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