The Rate of Appendicular Neoplasm in Patients Who Underwent Appendectomy for Acute Appendicitis at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh

Abstract

Background Appendicitis is a common reason for hospitalization. Rarely do people with acute appendicitis have an appendiceal mass called an abscesses or inflamed phlegmon. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of different appendiceal tumors including neuroendocrine tumors, adenocarcinoma, carcinoid, and mucinous and evaluate patient demographic data (e.g., age and gender) at a major tertiary care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods We conducted a cross-sectional analytical review of patient records of 1513 patients who received an appendectomy and were diagnosed with acute appendicitis from 2015 to 2020 at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We used nonprobability sampling to collect the sample. The study included patients older than 14 years. We also recorded patient demographic information, including age, gender, history, and final pathology. Results The mean age of our study population was 27.9 years (standard deviation [SD], 12.3 years). Our study had 958 male patients and 555 female patients. One thousand four hundred fifty-eight patients (96.3%) had right lower quadrant (RLQ) tenderness, and 228 patients had fever (15.0%). One thousand one hundred thirteen patients (73.5%) had rebound tenderness, 1,178 had nausea (77.8%), and 1,100 had high white blood cell (WBC) counts (72.7%). One thousand four hundred eighty-six patients received laparoscopic surgery (98.2%). Most patients (95.3%; n=1,443) had no postoperative complications. Appendicitis pathology was present in 1,381 patients (91.3%). Only 15 patients (1%) had tumor-related pathology, and these patients were significantly older than patients with nontumor-related pathology (p