P21 Appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic: to operate or not to operate, that is the question
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Antakia, Ramez; Xanthis, Athanasios; Georgiades, Fanourios; Hudson, Victoria; Ashcroft, James; Rooney, Siobhan; Singh, Aminder A; O'Neill, John R; Fearnhead, Nicola; Hardwick, Richard H; Davies, R Justin; Bennett, John M H
- Source
- BJS Open
- Subject
- medicine.medical_specialty
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
AcademicSubjects/MED00910
business.industry
General Medicine
medicine.disease
Appendicitis
Alvarado score
Internal medicine
Radiological weapon
Acute appendicitis
Pandemic
Poster Presentation
medicine
Abscess
business
AcademicSubjects/MED00010
Free fluid
- Language
- English
Background During the Covid-19 pandemic, non-operative management for acute appendicitis (AA) was implemented in the UK. Aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and outcomes of conservative versus surgical management of AA during the pandemic. Materials & Methods We conducted an observational study in a tertiary referral centre. Data was collected from patients (≥16 years) with a diagnosis of AA between 1st November 2019 to 10th March 2020 (pre-COVID period) and 10th March 2020 to 5th July 2020 (COVID period). Results A total of 116 patients in the pre-COVID period were included versus 91 in the COVID period. 43.1% (n = 50) of patients pre-COVID were classified as ASA 2 compared to 26.4% (n = 24) during the COVID period (p-value=0.042). 72.5% (n = 66) of the patients during the COVID period scored as high risk using the Alvarado score compared to 24.1% (n = 28) in the pre-COVID period (p-value Conclusion Radiological diagnosis of AA was more frequent during the COVID period. More conservative management for AA was employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for those managed operatively an open approach was preferred. Intra-operative findings were suggestive of delayed presentation during the COVID period without this affecting the length of hospital stay.