Appendicular Mass at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan

Abstract

Background: Acute appendicitis is a common disease but some patients were only diagnosed after they develop serious complications like appendicular mass.
Objectives: The objective was to study the clinical presentations, treatment and outcomes of patients with appendicular mass seen at El Obeid Hospital, Western Sudan.
Materials and Methods: In a prospective study the information about all patients with appendicular mass who were admitted to the wards of the University Surgical Unit at El Obeid Teaching Hospital, Western Sudan during the year 2012 were collected in a pre-designed questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS PC packages version 17.5.
Results: There were one hundred and three patients; 58 males and 45 females. The mean age was 29.5 years ± S.D. 17.8. Most of the patients (76%) came from rural areas. The delay in time of presentation varied from 3 days to two weeks, but the majority (93%) visited a clinical setting where misdiagnosed or mismanaged. 85% of the patients had appendicectomy (emergency or elective), 10% had drainage of appendicular abscess and 2% underwent right hemi-colectomy. 3% of the patients failed to re-appear for elective operation. Post-operative complications were fever (4.8%), wound infection (5.8%), paralytic ileus (1.9%) and faecal fistula (0.9%). There was no mortality among this series.
Conclusions: Most of the patients with appendicular mass were misdiagnosed or mismanaged before being admitted to the surgical wards. Awareness of the health providers in this community about acute appendicitis, its complications and its management needs to be revised.

Key words: Acute appendicitis, missed diagnosis, appendicular mass.