Transumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy in children: Clinical and surgical outcomes

• Published in: World journal of gastrointestinal endoscopy 2014-04, Vol.6 (4), p.101-104
• Main Authors: Zampieri, Nicola, Scirè, Gabriella, Mantovani, Alberto, Camoglio, Francesco Saverio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Appendectomy; Children; invasive; Minimally; Procedure; surgery; Therapeutics Advances; Transumbilical
• ISSN: 1948-5190; 1948-5190
• DOI: 10.4253/wjge.v6.i4.101

The aim of this paper is to present and describe tran-sumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy in chil-dren, focusing on its technical aspects and clinical andsurgical outcomes. The surgical charts of all patientsaged between 0 and 14 years treated with transumbili-cal laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy admitted tothe authors’ institution from January 2009 to Septem-ber 2013 with a diagnosis of suspected appendicitis fol-lowing clinical, laboratory and ultrasound findings werereviewed. Operating time, intraoperative findings, needfor conversion or for additional trocars, and surgicacomplications were reported. During the study period,120 patients aged between 6 and 14 years(mean age:9.9 years), 73 females(61%) and 47 males(39%),were treated with transumbilical laparoscopic-assistedappendectomy. There were 37 cases of hyperemicappendicitis(subserosal and retrocecal), 74 cases ofphlegmonous appendicitis and 9 cases of perforatedgangrenous appendicitis. It was not possible to estab-lish a correlation between grade of appendicitis andmean operating time(P > 0.05). Eleven cases(9%)needed the use of one additional trocar, while 8 pa-tients(6%) required conversion to the standard laparo-scopic technique with the use of two additional trocars. No patient was converted to the open technique. Tran-sumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy is a safe technique in children and it could be used by surgeons who want to approach other minimally invasive tech-niques.