Apendicitis

Arch Iran Med 2010; 13 (1): 13 – 16

Original Article

Wound Infection Incidence in Patients with Simple and Gangrenous or Perforated Appendicitis
Mostafa Mehrabi Bahar MD*, Ali Jangjoo MD*,Ahmad Amouzeshi MD *, Kamran Kavianifar MD*
Background: Performing a delayed primary wound closure is often recommended in patients with gangrenous or perforated appendicitis who have undergone anappendectomy. It can result in increased pain as well as an extended hospital stay which, in turn, increases hospital costs. Delayed primary wound closure remains controversial. The general policy in ourinstitution is to perform a primary wound closure. In this study, we have compared the incidence of wound infection in patients with simple appendicitis to those with gangrenous or perforatedappendicitis whose wounds were primarily closed. Methods: This is an observational study which was carried out on 400 patients with gangrenous or perforated (50%) and simple appendicitis (50%). Both groupsunderwent primary wound closure. Patients were followed for wound infection for at least one month after surgery. Data including age, sex, operating time, pathologic report and wound infection werecollected. A comparison between the studied groups was made using Student’s t-test for continuous variables 2 and  test for categorical variables. Results: The median age of the patients was 23 years.There were 141 (35.2%) females and 259 (64.8%) males. The median operating time was 30 minutes. Wound infections were observed in 15 patients (3.7%), including 6 cases of simple and 9 cases of gangrenousor perforated appendicitis which was not statistically significant. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in wound infection between the simple and gangrenous or perforatedappendicitis groups.
Archives of Iranian Medicine, Volume 13, Number 1, 2010: 13 – 16.

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Keywords: Delayed wound closure  primary wound closure  simple and gangrenous or
perforated...