Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part A (2018)

Introduction and Background: A popular surgical procedure for acute appendicitis is appendectomy. Laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) has recently arisen as a viable alternative to open appendectomy (OA), which has long been considered the gold standard. Potential benefits of LA include less postoperative pain and a faster recovery. Using metrics like operating time, postoperative recovery, and complication rates, this study intends to compare the results of open and laparoscopic appendectomy in a sample of sixty patients.

Materials and Methods: This prospective study compared the efficacy of open and laparoscopic appendectomy procedures on 60 patients with acute appendicitis. Each group received 30 patients. This study conducted at Department of General Surgery, Madha Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry, Kundrathur Main Road, Kovur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, between April 2017 and March 2018. Both groups were evaluated for the following: amount of time spent operating, complications during surgery, duration of hospital stay, pain levels following surgery (as defined by a visual analog scale), and problems following surgery, including wound infections, ileus, and bleeding. The SPSS statistical software was used for the analysis, and statistical significance was determined by p-values less than 0.05.

Results: The average length of hospital stay for the group that underwent laparoscopic appendectomy was 2.1 days, which was considerably less than the open appendectomy group's 4.3 days (p<0.01). Although the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.12), the laparoscopic group had a somewhat longer operating time (mean 85 minutes) than the open group (mean 70 minutes). The laparoscopic group had significantly lower postoperative pain scores (mean 3.2) than the open group (mean 5.1), with a p<0.05 difference. There was no statistically significant difference in the occurrence of wound infections, hemorrhage, or ileus between the two groups' complication rates.

Conclusion: Compared to open appendectomy, laparoscopic appendectomy has less risks and a quicker recovery time, as well as less pain after the procedure. Although laparoscopic surgery requires a little more time during the operation, it is better for treating acute appendicitis because of the time it takes to recuperate.