Evaluating the benefit of incidental appendectomy

Background: Surgeons sometimes perform appendectomies during abdominopelvic surgeries for surgical conditions unrelated to the appendix. A retrospective study of the histopathological diagnoses of incidental appendectomy specimens was performed to see the value of this practice. Materials and Methods: Records of incidentally resected appendices submitted to the Histopathology Department of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital from January 2005 to December 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Results: A total of 129 histopathological reports of incidental appendectomy were retrospectively reviewed; 67 (51.9%) of the patients were male and 62 (48.1%) were female, giving a male-female ratio of about 1.1:1. Fifty-four cases (41.9%) had histologically normal appendices, while 75 cases (58.1%) had various histopathologically demonstrable lesions ranging from acute appendicitis (the most frequent with 27%) to neoplasia (one case of mucinous adenocarcinoma). Conclusion: Significant pathology can be uncovered on histopathological examination of the clinically normal appendix. Incidental appendectomy is thus a useful procedure.