Histopathological analysis of appendectomy specimens in Calabar, south –southern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Appendectomy is one of the commonest surgical intervention worldwide with a very high incidence in Nigeria. The various histologic patterns of these lesions are diverse with little information about this in this part of the country. Aim: To analyse various histologic pattern of appendectomy specimens received in University of Calabar teaching Hospital. Materials and Methods: This is an eleven year (1999-2009) retrospective study involving review of the histologic records of all patients with gastrointestinal lesions received in the Department of Pathology, UCTH. The patients' biodata and histologic diagnosis were retrieved. Analysis was done using simple statistical operation. Results: We found that 46.2% of all the gastrointestinal lesions were appendectomy specimens: Out of these, 44.7% were acute appendicitis with or without complications while 7.8% belong with appendix specimens that either had no pathology or were autolysed and the remaining 48% show either reactive lymphoid hyperplasia or appendix with chronic inflammatory response. There was no neoplasia or carcinoid found among the lesions. Furthermore, we found a male to female incidence of 1: 1.45 for the acute appendicitis, with the mean age being 35 and 31years old for males and females. In our series, the youngest patient was 6months old while the oldest was 73. Conclusion: Appendectomy specimen is the commonest gastrointestinal lesion received in Histopathology Department of UCTH, Calabar. Appendicitis remains commoner among the females than the males. Significant number of these patients had lymphoid hyperplasia.