[Appendicitis in the elderly: delay between the first symptoms and surgical procedure]

Acute appendicitis is the most frequent etiology of abdominal laparotomy, and although it's thought that is a pathology of young patients, not only it isn't infrequent in elderly patients but it's increasing its incidence in the last decades, in part due to longer expectative of life in the general population. We studied the particularity of presentation and evolution in a group of 73 patients older than 60-year old, in comparason with a younger group. The clinical findings were typical in the most of patients, unrelated to the age, but problems as: delay in the clinical assistance, to have associated another diseases, and delayed diagnosis and operation, make the appendicitis in the older patient to have an increased incidence of complications. Moreover, post-operative complications occurred much more frequently, specially at the surgical incision, with a higher morbidity and hospital stay.