Acute appendicitis: a clinical pattern in Port Harcourt Nigeria

A retrospective study of 201 patients, 152 with simple and 49 with complicated, appendicitis is presented. Diagnosis of simple acute appendicitis was made on symptoms of abdominal pain, anorexia, nausea and vomiting, together with rebound abdominal tenderness and not on white blood cell count. Normal white blood cell count was found in 80.3% cases of simple acute appendicitis while elevated white cell count was associated with 85.7% of complicated appendicitis. There was no mortality in 152 patients who had appendectomies for uncomplicated acute appendicitis, but the mortality rate in the 49 patients with complications was 12.2%. This was responsible for the overall mortality rate of 3% for all appendectomies in this report. Complicated appendicitis in this review was largely due to pre-admission delays and the ingestion of strong cathartics, both of which could not be influenced by surgeons.