INCIDENTAL APPENDECTOMY DURING UROLOGICAL SURGERY

Purpose: To investigate the issue of incidental appendectomy during ur ological surgery we retrospectively studied its consequences in 2 grou ps of urological patients. Materials and Methods: We studied 147 patie nts undergoing cystectomy and urinary diversion (group 1) and 200 unde rgoing primary retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (group 2). Incidental a ppendectomy was performed in 122 (83%) and 114 (57%) patients, respect ively. Results: The incidence of infectious complications in group 2 w as significantly higher among patients who underwent incidental append ectomy compared to those without appendectomy (9.6% and 2.3%, respecti vely, p = 0.032). No difference was noted among the patients in group 1 (10.6% and 12,0%, respectively, p = 0.51). Conclusions: When evaluat ing the prophylactic merits, incidental appendectomy can be performed safely during radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. It is probably contraindicated in patients undergoing retroperitoneal lymphadenectom y for testis cancer due to the apparent added risk of infectious compl ications.