Page 124 - Postoperative Intra-Abdominal Adhesions- New insights in prevention and consequences

Chapter 7
Outcomes of the study
The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of abdominal complaints on the long term after appendectomy for complicated and uncomplicated appendectomy. In addition the influence of operation technique (open versus laparoscopic) and the relation between intraoperatively scored adhesions and abdominal complaints was investigated.
Statistical analysis
Categorical variables were presented as a number (percentage). Continuous variables were presented as mean (standard deviation). Categorical variables were compared with the chi-square test; continuous variables were compared with the student T-test. All analyses were conducted using SPSS (version 18.0.0. SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA). A P-value <0.05 (two-sided) was considered statistically significant.
Results
During the study period, 1481 patients underwent a laparoscopic (LA) or open appendectomy (OA) for suspected acute appendicitis. Of this group, 48 patients passed away, emigrated or no contact records were found and therefore only 1433 questionnaires could be sent to them. Finally 526 (37%) questionnaires were suitable for complete analysis as shown in figure 1. Of the 526 responders, 364 (69%) did not have any abdominal complaints during the last six months. From the 162 people with complaints during the last 6 months, 159 patients completed the GIQLI questionnaire.
Mean interval from prior operation was 6.9 years for responders and 7.2 years for non-responders (p=0.017). Perforated appendix was found in 180 (19.5%) of the laparoscopic and in 92 (16.5%) of the open cases (p=0.159). After LA 52 (5.6%) and after open procedure 18 (3.2%) intra- abdominal abscesses were scored postoperatively (p<0.05). A normal appendix was removed in 79 (5%) cases (41 female vs 38 male, p= 0.291). More baseline characteristics of the total study population are described in table 2.
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