Appendiceal Phlegmon as an intraoperative finding: A retrospective analysis

Abstract

Background Emergency procedures due to acute surgical abdomen correspond to a great part of emergency surgeries. Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency in the world. Intraoperative findings can represent a challenging scenario for the surgical team and its decisions. Appendiceal phlegmon/plastron presents in 3.8-7% of patients with appendicitis and can be considered as a challenging surgical scenario where expertise may gain a fundamental value in terms of decision-making process. Therefore, we present clinical courses and outcomes of 40 patients that underwent emergency surgery with these intraoperative findings from 2016 to 2018. Methods Retrospective study with a prospective database in which we described patients with emergent need for surgical procedure due to peritoneal signs with surgical findings of appendiceal phlegmon. Multivariate analysis was performed to prove the relationship between obesity, diabetes, and surgeon experience with any complication and colonic resection. Results 40 patients underwent surgical procedure due to peritoneal signs with intraoperative findings of appendiceal phlegmon. Mean age was 51.9 (± 20.4). Procedures were performed based on intraoperative findings being appendectomy the most frequent (85%), followed by right hemicolectomy (10%) and partial cecum resection (5%). Three patients required reintervention. No mortalities were documented. Surgeries performed by junior surgeons have a higher probability to require colonic resections (P = 0.05, OR 4.05 ,95% CI), also obesity is associated with complications (P = 0.04, OR 1.44, 95% CI). Conclusion Finding of appendiceal phlegmon constitute a challenging surgical scenario in daily practice. Our patient’s complication rates are similar to those described in literature despite its emergent circumstances. Surgeons' expertise appears to be associated with outcomes. Further studies are needed to give clear recommendations.