Changes in the Treatment of Acute Appendicitis

The purpose of this study was to analyse the epidemiology, diagnostics, the type of surgical techniques and their development over time, and mortality in acute appendicitis in 68 hospitals in Germany based on routine data between 2010 and 2022.

This retrospective observational study analyzed routine data provided by the CLINOTEL Hospital Association Germany, covering the years 2010 to 2022. The data was derived from anonymized billing data according to the German Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) system for inpatient hospital treatments. The study focused on the use of different surgical techniques for appendectomy over time, the in-hospital mortality rates and postoperative complications associated with the performed kind of appendectomy. Patients over 18 years with an acute appendicitis were included by collecting following data: patient demographic, comorbidity, performed operation, postoperative complications, admission to Intensive Care Unit, length of stay, and in-hospital-mortality. Cases without an appendectomy, with nonspecific appendectomy and those, who underwent appendectomy as part of another surgical procedure, were excluded. Furthermore, all cases with multiple appendectomy codes were removed from the sample. Ultimately, 31988 patients were included in the study.