Abstract :
Advantages of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) have been well documented. Yet, its use in secondary health care facilities has not been well discussed. Our work aimed to evaluate the feasibility, outcome and role of LA in managing both complicated and non-complicated appendicitis in a secondary health care setting. Patients who are clinically suspected to have acute appendicitis were included in this three-year retrospective study that took place in the period from March 2016 to March 2019 with a follow up period of 18 months. Two hundred and thirty-three patients underwent LA during the study period. They were 128 males and 105 females with the male to female ratio of 1.3: 1. They were classified into three groups; Group l (n=142, 61%) included those who clinically and sonographicaly proved to have uncomplicated acute appendicitis. On the other hand, Group II (n= 61, 26%) were those patients with suspicion of having complicated appendicitis. Group III (n=30, 13%) were those with equivocal diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Patients in the three groups underwent LA with eighteen cases that were converted to open appendectomy (OA) due to various causes. Overall success rate of the technique was above 85%. LA besides being the usually adopted feasible and minimally invasive tool within the tertiary health care facilities may also be safely implemented within the secondary health care settings.
