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INTRODUCTION: Acute appendicitis is a frequent health problem. However, few information exists on this pathology in our country. Our objectives with this study are 1) to report the correlation between surgical and histopathological findings, and 2) to inform the proportion of complicated acute appendicitis in the Regional Hospitalof Veraguas.
METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional study that included all patients older than 15 years of age who underwent appendectomy between April and October 2020 at the Regional Hospital of Veraguas. Data was obtained through an in-person questionnaire and from clinical records. Complicated acute appendicitis was defined as appendix in gangrenous or perforated phase according to histopathological findings. Sex, age group, evolution time, self-medication, imaging study, and postoperative complications were used as clinical-epidemiological variables.
RESULTS: Out of the 75 patients undergoing appendectomy, the majority were men (54.7%), between 15-25 years old (49.3%), with an evolution time of 24-48 hours (39%). Eleven patients (14.7%) required imaging studiesand two patients (3%) had postoperative complications.Furthermore, out of the 54 appendices classified as uncomplicated by histopathological analysis, 48 (88.9%) were classified as such by intraoperative diagnosis. Similarly, out of the 21 appendices reported by histopathology as uncomplicated, 12 (57.1%) were classified as such during the intraoperative period.
CONCLUSION: We found a moderate kappa coefficient (k=0.48), as well as a higher proportion of complicated acute appendicitis cases compared to revised literature. Our study highlights the importance of histopathology as a tool for the adequate postsurgical management of this pathology.
