Incidental appendectomy during urological surgery.

Abstract

To investigate the issue of incidental appendectomy during urological surgery we retrospectively studied its consequences in 2 groups of urological patients. We studied 147 patients undergoing cystectomy and urinary diversion (group 1) and 200 undergoing primary retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (group 2). Incidental appendectomy was performed in 122 (83%) and 114 (57%) patients, respectively. The incidence of infectious complications in group 2 was significantly higher among patients who underwent incidental appendectomy compared to those without appendectomy (9.6% and 2.3%, respectively, p = 0.032). No difference was noted among the patients in group 1 (10.6% and 12.0%, respectively, p = 0.51). When evaluating the prophylactic merits, incidental appendectomy can be performed safely during radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. It is probably contraindicated in patients undergoing retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for testis cancer due to the apparent added risk of infectious complications.