Acute appendicitis in pregnant women: A Tunisian center experience

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical pathology during pregnancy. It occurs in about 1 in 500 to 1 in 635 pregnancies per year,[1] and appendectomy is the gold standard in the treatment approach.[2] However, its diagnosis represents a challenge to both surgeons and obstetrician-gynecologists. In addition, the role of laparoscopy remains controversial. This study discusses the diagnostic approach and reviews the appropriate surgical approach while evaluating the part of laparoscopy. This is a retrospective descriptive analysis reviewing 36 patients who underwent surgery for acute appendicitis during pregnancy at the "Surgery Department of Jendouba Hospital from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2019. Data include age, comorbidities, previous abdominal surgery, symptoms, physical examination findings, complementary exams results, operative treatment details, the emergency status of the procedure, associated medical treatment, antibiotics and tocolysis, the pathology reports, and follow-up. The mean age of patients was 27 years. Twenty-one patients (58, 33%) were in the second trimester of pregnancy, 6 patients (16, 66 %) were in the first trimester, and 9 (25%) in the third one. The physical examination reported a right iliac fossa tenderness in 27 patients (75%). The abdominal ultrasound was performed in all cases and guided the diagnosis in 24 cases (66, 66%). 18 patients (50%) underwent laparoscopy, 12 patients (33, 33%) underwent laparotomy. The remaining 6 patients (16, 66%) required a conversion from laparoscopic to open surgery. The clinical presentation of appendicitis in pregnancy is often misguiding. Therefore, an abdominal ultrasound should be performed for all pregnant patients having abdominal pain. The difficulty of operating under laparoscopy increases with the pregnancy term, leading to a higher risk of conversion, which increases the operating time and the doses of anesthetics, causing a maternal and fetal risk.