1565 In Covid-19 Pandemic, Following the Updated Royal College of Surgeons of England Guidelines in Management of Acute Appendicitis; A General District Hospital Audit

Dorra, A; Abdellatif, M; Fahmy, W; Salama, Y

AIM: The Aim of the study is assessment of the compliance with the updated Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) guidelines in management of acute appendicitis in a general district hospital during COVID-19 pandemic. Conservative treatment of acute appendicitis is encouraged unless unresponsiveness to treatment or complications ensues. METHOD: Collection of retrospective data using hospital coding system was done from 63 patients medical records who were diagnosed with acute appendicitis from April 2020 to June 2020. RESULTS: The collected data analysis showed adherence to conservative treatment in 16 out of 63 (16/63) patients (25.4%). It succeeded in 10/16 patients (63 %). 6/16 patients were switched to operative intervention (37 %). There were no complications in patients who needed operative intervention after failure of conservative management. Operative management was primarily chosen in 47/63 patients (74.6 %). Re-admissions were 3/16 patients (18.75 %) in conservative group in comparison to 1/47 patient (2.12 %) in primarily operative group. CONCLUSIONS: The work showed a promising rate of success of conservative treatment. However, there is a low level of compliance with RCS guidelines in management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic. The study showed increased re-admission rate for conservative management versus primarily operative management pathways. No complications were detected in cases who needed operative intervention after failure of conservative management. Re-auditing is to follow. The study recommends national comparison of data as it might be worthwhile considering primary management of acute appendicitis.