Objective: To correlate the preoperative findings, perforation rate and the mortality rate after appendicectomy in the elderly age.
Design: Retrospective study.
Setting: Teaching hospital, Sweden.
Subjects: Forty-seven patients over 80 years of age who have undergone acute appendicectomy.
Main outcome measures: Operative and postoperative outcome after acute appendicectomy in the elderly.
Results: The complication rate after appendicectomy was statistically significantly increased to 28% as well as the mortality increased to 8.5% in the elderly patients when compared to the other age group. The perforation rate was also statistically significantly increased to 64% when compared to the same group.
Conclusions: Our study shows that at the time of clinical symptoms, inflammatory parameters in acute appendicitis in the elderly do not differ from the young patient, but patients older than 80 years of age have a high risk of perforation, morbidity and mortality.