AIM: Histopathological examination of the appendix after appendectomy is routinely performed. The object of this systematic review is to determine whether routine histopathological examination of the appendix is justified. METHOD: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane library were searched without language restriction up to 1 October 2009. All articles that reported on the incidence of histopathologically proven aberrant appendiceal pathology were included. RESULTS: Nineteen case series reported the incidence of a benign neoplasm [0.5%, weighted mean (WM)], malignant neoplasm (0.2%, WM) and other pathology (0-14%). Nine articles reported the sensitivity of the intra-operative findings to detect aberrant diagnoses. Parasitic infection was detected in 0-19%, endometriosis in 0% and granulomatosis in 0-11% of cases. Five articles addressed the consequences of aberrant pathology. Most patients with parasite infection, granulomatosis and malignant neoplasms underwent additional investigation or treatment, in contrast to patients with a benign neoplasm. CONCLUSION: The incidence of unexpected findings in appendectomy specimens is low and the intra-operative diagnosis alone appears insufficient for identifying unexpected disease. The benefit of histopathology is studied inadequately. From the present available evidence, routine histopathology cannot be judged as useless.
AIM: Histopathological examination of the appendix after appendectomy is routinely performed. The object of this systematic review is to determine whether routine histopathological examination of the appendix is justified. METHOD: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane library were searched without language restriction up to 1 October 2009. All articles that reported on the incidence of histopathologically proven aberrant appendiceal pathology were included. RESULTS: Nineteen case series reported the incidence of a benign neoplasm [0.5%, weighted mean (WM)], malignant neoplasm (0.2%, WM) and other pathology (0-14%). Nine articles reported the sensitivity of the intra-operative findings to detect aberrant diagnoses. Parasitic infection was detected in 0-19%, endometriosis in 0% and granulomatosis in 0-11% of cases. Five articles addressed the consequences of aberrant pathology. Most patients with parasite infection, granulomatosis and malignant neoplasms underwent additional investigation or treatment, in contrast to patients with a benign neoplasm. CONCLUSION: The incidence of unexpected findings in appendectomy specimens is low and the intra-operative diagnosis alone appears insufficient for identifying unexpected disease. The benefit of histopathology is studied inadequately. From the present available evidence, routine histopathology cannot be judged as useless.
Authors: Salomone Di Saverio; Arianna Birindelli; Micheal D Kelly; Fausto Catena; Dieter G Weber; Massimo Sartelli; Michael Sugrue; Mark De Moya; Carlos Augusto Gomes; Aneel Bhangu; Ferdinando Agresta; Ernest E Moore; Kjetil Soreide; Ewen Griffiths; Steve De Castro; Jeffry Kashuk; Yoram Kluger; Ari Leppaniemi; Luca Ansaloni; Manne Andersson; Federico Coccolini; Raul Coimbra; Kurinchi S Gurusamy; Fabio Cesare Campanile; Walter Biffl; Osvaldo Chiara; Fred Moore; Andrew B Peitzman; Gustavo P Fraga; David Costa; Ronald V Maier; Sandro Rizoli; Zsolt J Balogh; Cino Bendinelli; Roberto Cirocchi; Valeria Tonini; Alice Piccinini; Gregorio Tugnoli; Elio Jovine; Roberto Persiani; Antonio Biondi; Thomas Scalea; Philip Stahel; Rao Ivatury; George Velmahos; Roland Andersson Journal: World J Emerg Surg Date: 2016-07-18 Impact factor: 5.469