INTRAABDOMINAL SEROUS FLUID COLLECTIONS AFTER APPENDECTOMY - A NORMALSONOGRAPHIC FINDING

OBJECTIVE. The significance of sonographic findings 1 week or less aft er appendectomy is difficult to evaluate without knowing the inconsequ ential abnormalities that may occur in these patients. Accordingly, we performed postoperative sonography on patients who had a normal cours e after appendectomy to determine the findings that can be considered normal within 1 week after surgery. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Forty-four p atients who had an appendectomy for acute appendicitis and who had nor mal findings at clinical follow-up 5 days and 6 months later were incl uded in the study. In all patients, sonograms were obtained on the fif th postoperative day and interpreted by a radiologist who did not know the surgical findings. RESULTS. Ten fluid collections (23%) were foun d in the pericecal area, ranging in size from 10 x 10 mm to 40 x 20 mm . The collections were hypoechoic or anechoic, crescent-shaped, and im mobile. Fluid collections were more common in cases of suppurative app endixes (6/20, 30%) than in cases of inflamed appendixes (4/19, 21%) a nd in retrocecal appendixes (3/9, 33%) than in normally located append ixes (7/34, 21%). However, the differences were not statistically sign ificant (p > .05). CONCLUSION. Inconsequential fluid collections are d etected with considerable frequency on postoperative sonograms 5 days after an appendectomy. Consequently, not every fluid collection should be considered an abscess.