Concordance in Intraoperative Surgeons' Opinion in the Diagnosis and Management of Acute Appendicitis: The Role of Training.

OBJECTIVE: Acute appendicitis is a wide spectrum disease, from simple inflammation to evident intestinal perforation. The correct interpretation of the degree of inflammation is crucial to guarantee appropriate treatment and adherence to protocols and guidelines. In order to investigate this concordance, the authors compared the definition of appendicitis and the predicted treatment among all surgeons affiliated to a single Pediatric Surgery School (consisting of 8 different centers). DESIGN: Twenty-two short recordings of intra-operative manipulation of appendices were shown to 56 surgeons, blindly to clinical information. Four items were collected and analyzed: classification of appendicitis, type and length of predicted antibiotic therapy, day of re-alimentation. Data were analyzed to identify the concordance kappa coefficient, stratified according to expertise of the responding surgeon. RESULTS: The 1232 evaluations obtained in all valued items low overall concordance. Subgroup analysis identified a good agreement between younger surgeons only in the choice of antibiotic (k 0.47). However, if the centers were divided between University and non-University Hospitals, a strong agreement was found in the former both for classification (k 0.45 vs 0.32) and type of antibiotic (k 0.42 vs 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: The overall concordance between surgeons in different centers in the diagnostic classification and predicted treatment of appendicitis is quite low. University Hospital have a highest concordance in both items at all levels of expertise; it might be postulated that teaching to younger surgeon increase the comparison between experts and finally the concordance and adherence to protocols within the center.

Quarantine and Appendicitis: A Macro-Area Experience.

PURPOSE: Appendicitis is the most frequent urgency in pediatric age; the aim of this study was to investigate the association of quarantine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic and the incidence of pediatric appendicitis in a specific macro area. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of consecutive patients who underwent surgical exploration for acute appendicitis in the period March-April since 2014. This specific quarantine period was divided into two phases as indicated by National government. Patient data, demographics, characteristics and outcomes were studied and evaluated comparing patients treated during quarantine especially phase 1 vs. phase 2 (March-April 2020). RESULTS: After reviewing medical charts following the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 155 patients were studied; focusing on the final outcome, it is possible to show a decreased amount of appendicitis during phase 1 and a progressive increase during phase 2; respect to previous years, there was a statistical increase in severity of appendicitis during quarantine (gangrenous vs. phlegmonous appendicitis). CONCLUSION: During this specific quarantine there was a reduction in appendicitis and a progressive increase during phase 2. These results offer new perspective among disease incidences during lockdown.