European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical presentations worldwide. Acute appendicitis is complicated with several sequels, of which the perforated appendicitis presents a major health concern. Perforated appendicitis is profoundly affected with method of wound closure which determines the incidence of wound infection. Methods: This is a prospective randomized study that included 360 patients presented with acute appendicitis. Intraoperative recording of the gross pathology of the appendix with assessment of the relation of wound infection and method of wound closure were performed. Moreover, record of the patients’ postoperative hospital stay period was assessed. Results: Postoperative assessment of appendectomy revealed that 18.8% was appendicitis negative, 63% was uncomplicated appendicitis and 18.2% was perforated appendicitis. We considered primary closure of wounds in 36.4% of patients, delayed wound primary closure in 18.2% of patients and partial closure of wounds in 45.4% of patients. Incidence of infected surgical wounds was 37.5%, 16.7% and 13.3% in primary, delayed primary and partial wound closure respectively. Delayed primary closure had the longest hospital stay (8 days) compared to primary wound closure (7 days) and partial wound closure (4 days). Conclusions: The study on hand provided an evidence on how superior the partial wound closure compared to primary wound closure and delayed primary wound closure in patients with appendicitis.