West African journal of medicine
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Acute appendicitis is a leading cause of emergency admission into our hospital. A report on 638 surgical abdominal explorations following emergency admissions for suspected acute appendicitis is presented. The study was conducted at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital between January 1998 and December 2004. ⋯ The diagnosis of appendicitis in our environment is clinical and based mainly on the combination of abdominal pains, signs of peritoneal irritation, and a raised total white cell count with neutrophilia. This mode of presentation is similar to that seen in other communities. The treatment of appendicitis in our hospital is appendicectomy. The negative appendicectomy rate of 25.9% falls within the range reported in other studies. More than a third of the appendices were perforated. The considerable morbidity and appreciable mortality from acute appendicitis in our community are due mainly to the late presentation of our patients.