Appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learnt from a district general hospital.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically influenced the delivery of healthcare. In line with the UK Royal Colleges' advice the management of acute appendicitis (AA) changed with greater consideration for non-operative management (NOM) or open appendicectomy when operative management (OM) was sought. We describe our experience of the presentation, management and outcomes for these patients to inform care for future viral pandemics.

Methods

This retrospective, cohort study compared patients diagnosed with AA between March and July 2019 with those during the pandemic period of March to July 2020. Medical records were reviewed to obtain demographics, inflammatory markers, imaging, severity, management, histology, length of stay (LOS) and 90-day outcomes.

Results

Ther

SUBMITTER: Pringle HCM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8114653 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature