Laparoscopic appendectomy: vascular control of the appendicular artery using monopolar cauterization versus clips

Laparoscopic appendectomy is now the standard of treatment for acute appendicitis in medical centers where advanced minimally invasive surgery is performed, and it has become the standard of care in our institution. The techniques for laparoscopic appendectomy are widely described in surgical textbooks, but the vascular control of the appendicular artery is diverse. In this article, we compare the benefits and possible complications of different techniques to obtain vascular control.

This is a retrospective study of prospectively collected data including all cases of laparoscopic appendectomy from September 1990 to August 2009. Here we describe the different methods used, and we present a large series of 729 cases of laparoscopic appendectomy. In the majority of the cases the diagnosis was acute appendicitis followed by laparoscopic appendectomy. In only 124 cases was an incidental appendectomy performed associated with another laparoscopic procedure.

In 350 cases (48%) monopolar cauterization was used to obtain vascular control of the appendicular artery. In the other 379 cases the artery was either clipped or stapled (52%). There were no postoperative complications reported. There was no difference in patient outcome with either approach to obtain adequate vascular control.

The vascular control of the appendicular artery obtained with monopolar cautery is a safe, fast, and economic approach easily done during a laparoscopic or needlescopic appendectomy with no increased risks or complications.