Pediatric Appendicitis Can Be Safely Managed as an Urgent, Rather than Emergent, Procedure

Although studies are inconclusive, many physicians feel that a delay in appendectomy may result in complications (perforation) and prolonged hospital stay. Using the Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, researchers examined time to appendectomy (TTA) and its association with complications for 2429 children (age <18 years) who had appendectomies within 24 hours of emergency department (ED) admission in 2013 and 2014. Patients who were evaluated and then referred and those who had a computed tomography scan prior to appendectomy were excluded.

The median TTA (time from ED registration to skin incision) for all 23 hospitals was 7.4 hours (range, 5.0 to 19.2 hours). Overall, 23.6% of patients had complicated appendic…