European surgical societies rarely have recommendations for the treatment of appendicitis - a survey.

Abstract

Purpose: Guidelines for management and treatment of appendicitis recommends the removal of a normal-looking appendix, but the recommendations are deemed as weak because they are based on low quality evidence. We aimed to provide an overview of the recommendations from the European societies or associations of surgeons regarding the treatment of acute appendicitis and especially recommendations for the macroscopically normal-looking appendix.

Methods: European surgical societies were contacted and sent an electronic questionnaire. Questions concerned if the association had a national guideline or recommended an existing one, and if they recommended a specific approach for the management of the normal-looking appendix, including who decided to remove the appendix.

Results: We contacted surgical societies from 28 European countries, and 17 surgical societies (61%) responded. Two societies had a national guideline for the treatment of appendicitis and one of these addressed how to treat the normal-looking appendix. Most societies (59%) answered that the operating surgeon decided whether to remove the normal-looking appendix. Eleven societies recommended using an existing guideline (65%), four societies (24%) did not recommend a guideline, and two societies did not know.

Conclusion: Only two surgical societies had a published national recommendation or guideline on the treatment of suspected appendicitis, only one had a guideline for the management of the normal-looking appendix, and most societies answered that the operating surgeon decided.