laparoscopic appendicectomy

A 40 year old woman presented to the emergency department with acute on chronic abdominal pain in her right iliac fossa. On history her pain had been present for over 6 months and had previously been investigated with ultrasound, CT and a diagnostic laparoscopy several months prior to presentation. Her pain had acutely worsened over the preceding two weeks. This was associated with two days of diarrhoea but nil other systemic symptoms. Her medical history was significant for immunosuppression with tacrolimus, azathioprine and prednisone post renal transplant for IgA nephropathy [1]. Her abdominal examination was unremarkable other than tenderness in her right iliac fossa and a palpable non-tender renal transplant. Her inflammatory markers, electrolytes and urine microscopy were unremarkable. She was further investigated with an ultrasound which demonstrated nil complications with her transplant and a non-contrast CT (due to contrast allergy). Her CT demonstrated a faecolith within the appendiceal lumen but no signs of acute appendicitis (Figure 1). Due to ongoing pain and CT finding of faecolith she was taken for a diagnostic laparoscopy with appendicectomy.   Figure 1: Non-contrast CT demonstrating faecolith. Intraoperatively she had a macroscopically normal appendix and no other cause for the patients symptoms could be identified. A laparoscopic appendicectomy was performed with no complications. Her pain persisted postoperatively and she was discharged post operative day two with analgesia. Histology subsequently revealed actinomyces-like organisms consistent with actinomycosis of the appendix (Figure 2). Her case was discussed with the Infectious diseases team and she was started on an extended course of oral amoxicillin [2].   Figure 2: High Powered H&E stain & gram stain of actinomyces like organisms

Laparoscopic approach in emergency theatre is an irreplaceable tool to manage patients with acute surgical pathology. We retrospectively reviewed surgical access records from the Emergency Department for acute right iliac fossa pathology. We considered 51 patients (16 male, 35 female, mean age 23.8 years) access for acute right iliac fossa pathology over the last year. 44 patients underwent laparoscopic approach (86%); 8 patients were treated with an open approach. Outcomes evaluation was based on data comparison from open appendicectomy over 4 year time period. Variables considered for data analyses were: role of laparoscopic surgery for gangrenous/perforated appendicitis, Conversion rate, Laparoscopy appendicectomy for elderly patients. Our study demonstrated that a laparoscopic approach at acute right iliac fossa pathology is feasible, safe and can offer a low incidence of infectious complications, less post-operative pain, rapid recovery, and represent a valid diagnostic tool in doubtful cases, at the expense of longer operating time than OA. We suggest that LA should be the initial choice for all patients with acute right iliac fossa pathology.