A lower costly laparoscopic appendectomy: our experience of more than 2000 cases

Many authors emphasize the advantages of laparoscopic techniques in their experience, including the excellent cosmetic results, reduced postoperative pain, rapid functional recovery, lower incidence of adhesions, wound infections and believe that laparoscopic appendectomy is a reliable operation for treating acute appendicitis. Laparoscopic appendectomy has become a standard procedure in the treatment of acute appendicitis in our department since it was introduced in 2003. There are 414 patients underwent laparoscopic appendectomy and 37 patients underwent open appendectomy in our department in 2008. More than 2000 laparoscopic appendectomies were performed in our department during 2003-2009. However, open appendectomy is still the standard procedure in many Taiwan and worldwide hospitals. One of the reasons is that the operating costs incurred for laparoscopic appendectomy are higher than that of open appendectomy. We describe, herein, an access technique utilizing existing instrumentation that is reliable and easy.