Laparoscopic Appendectomy: A Safe and Feasible Procedure in Emergency Department of a Public Sector Hospital

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate LA (laparoscopic appendectomy) in terms of operative time, post-operative recovery and rate of post-operative complications in Department of Surgery, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi METHODOLOGY: A prospective Descriptive study. This study was carried out at Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. The data was collected prospectively for a duration of five years, from March 2019 to March 2024. Data was collected prospectively for patients operated for acute appendicitis by laparoscopic appendectomy with the help of questionnaires. Data of patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomies over five years was collected by consective non-probabilty sampling technique. RESULTS: 108 patients underwent laparoscopic appendectomy from March 2019 to March 2024 with follow-up of up to 01 month. 50(46.2%) men and 58(53.7%) women were included in the study. The mean age was 28±7.8 years. The mean operative time was 45±24.3 mins. 3.3% of operations required conversion to laparotomy. The mean length of stay was 1.5±3 days. Post-operative pain on the visual analog scale averaged around 6 on day one and reduced thereafter. The mean resumption of physical activity was 6 hrs. post-operatively. There was no death in the 30-day postoperative period. No complication occurred except for port site skin infection in 3 patients, intrabdominal abscess in 1, and fever in 9 patients. CONCLUSION: Our study advocates that laparoscopic appendectomy is a safe minimal invasive procedure with minimal complications.