Abstract

Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of surgical abdomen in childhood. Minimal access surgery has been proved to be a useful surgical technique. Present study was aimed to study laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis in children at a tertiary hospital. Material and Methods: Present study was retrospective, observational study, conducted in medical records of children of age 5-14 years, either gender, admitted to pediatric surgical ward underwent laparoscopic appendectomy at our institute. Results: In present study, 32 children were studied. Mean age 9.3 ± 2.4 was years. Majority were male (56.25 %) & common presenting symptoms were fever (100 %), abdominal pain (90.63 %), nausea & vomiting (34.38 %), loose stools (25 %) & others (18.75 %). Intraoperative appendix findings were unruptured appendix (71.88 %), ruptured appendix with localised peritonitis (18.75 %) & ruptured appendix with diffuse peritonitis (9.38 %). Mean duration of surgery was 45.43 ± 21.45 min, mean time to oral intake was 16.56 ± 6.34 hours, mean duration to return to normal activity was 1.64 ± 0.45 days & mean hospital stay was 2.56 ± 1.23 days. Complications noted were fever (12.5 %), prolonged ileus (>24 hours) (9.38 %), conversion to abdominal (6.25 %), intra-abdominal abscess (3.13 %) & reoperation due to intestinal leakage (3.13 %). Conclusion: Laparoscopic approach for managing acute appendicitis in children is safe and effective with respect to the less hospital stay, early recovery and cosmesis. The added advantage of laparoscopic appendectomy is its improved diagnostic ability.

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