Trauma surgeon performance of appendectomy in 5-year- to 10-year-old children is safe and decreases length of hospital stay.

BACKGROUND: Even in metropolitan areas, on-call pediatric surgeons may not always be immediately available for surgical care of appendicitis, potentially leading to delays in care. In 2012, the in-house trauma group at a suburban Level 1 trauma center (none with formal pediatric fellowship training) assumed surgical care of 5-year- to 10-year-old children with appendicitis, who had previously been cared for by pediatric surgeons. We propose to compare the outcomes of the trauma and pediatric surgery groups.

METHODS: Retrospective chart review of 5-year- to 10-year-olds undergoing emergency appendectomy at a suburban Level 1 trauma center between January 2007 and December 2016 was performed. Patients were classified as having surgery performed by the trauma surgery group or the pediatric surgery group. Patient characteristics, clinical course, and outcomes were compared.

RESULTS: A total of 220 patients were identified for study, 138 in the trauma group and 82 in the pediatric surgery group. Patients cared for by the trauma group were more likely to be female (47% vs. 32%; p = 0.03), were less likely to be diagnosed without imaging (2% vs. 26%; p < 0.0001), had a shorter time from diagnosis to surgery (214 vs. 318 minutes; p = 0.01), were more likely to have laparoscopic surgery (70% vs. 55%; p = 0.04), had a shorter operative time (40 vs. 49 minutes; p < 0.0001), and had a shorter length of stay (32 vs. 41 hours; p < 0.0001), despite more of them needing to be transferred from outside hospitals (60% vs. 37%; p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in patient age, rate of perforated appendicitis, 30-day readmissions, surgical site infections, or unanticipated procedures.

CONCLUSIONS: Trauma surgeon performance of emergency appendectomy in 5-year- to 10-year-old children decreased length of hospitalization with similar complication rates as compared with pediatric surgeons.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, level IV.