CANCER RISK FOLLOWING APPENDECTOMY FOR ACUTE APPENDICITIS (DENMARK)

Objective: Epidemiologic studies have not been able definitely to excl ude that appendectomy carries a cancer risk. This study was conducted to clarify whether appendectomy is associated with a subsequent increa se in cancer risk, since appendectomy is frequently an elective proced ure. Methods: The present study included more than 82,000 persons who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis during 1977-89 according to the nation-wide Danish Hospital Discharge Register. During a follo w-up interval of up to 17 years, cancer incidence was assessed by link age to the Danish Cancer Registry and compared with the incidence in t he general population of Denmark. Results: The total number of maligna ncies among appendectomized persons was 1.05 times higher than expecte d with 95 percent confidence intervals of 0.99-1.11. There was no clea r significant excess of any specific cancer type. Conclusion: During a postsurgery period of nearly two decades, results of our study did no t support the hypothesis that either appendectomy or acute appendiciti s are likely to be associated with malignant neoplasms.