In the pediatric age group, appendicitis is the most common condition requiring abdominal surgery that continues to be characterized by a high morbidity rate despite a significant decrease in the mortality rate.
A study was performed to identify factors associated with postoperative complications in 130 children with acute appendicitis during 4 years period from Jan. 1985 to Dec. 1988. The results of this study indicate the following
1) Simple appendicitis group was 80 cases(61.5 % ), complicated group was 50 cases(38.5 % ), and male to female ratio was 1.2 to 1.
2) Postappendectomy morbidity was 2.5% in simple appendicitis group and 44% in complicated appendicitis group.
j 3) Significant predictors of the complicated appendicitis were 1) age under 9 year-old, 2) duration of symptoms over 24 hours, 3) preoperative body temperature over 380C, 4) leukocytosis over 15,000 WBC/mm3.
- 4) Duration of symptoms was the factor. most closely associated with postappendectomy complications in the complicated appendicitis.
u 5) Preoperative antibiotics did not appreciably influence the incidence of complications in the complicated appendicitis.
Results presented illustrate that postappendectomy morbidity is strongly influenced by the status itself of appendicitis.
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