1185 Acute Paediatric Appendicitis(AA)-Decreasing The Negative Rate Of Appendicectomy

Aim The COVID -19 pandemic has forced changes in the management of Acute Appendicitis (AA), such as prioritising conservative management and avoiding laparoscopic procedures. This observational study aims to monitor and reduce the negative rate of paediatric appendicectomy and optimise the acute paediatric management following the newly introduced workflow. Method Retrospective patient data collection via electronic sources for all paediatric patients(0-16 years old) admitted with AA between March 23rd and October 31st 2020. Results During this period 74 patients were admitted with suspected AA. Conservative treatment was performed in 16 (22%) patients and operative management in 58 (78%), of which 15 (26%) had an open appendicectomy, while 43 (74%) underwent laparoscopic appendicectomy. The first trimester the negative appendicectomy rate was 25%, which dropped to 11% because of the newly introduced paediatric AA workflow and the more extensive use of US in the context of diagnosis of appendicitis.In the beginning of the study, the percentage of US scanning was 72% and was increased to 90% after the end of the 3rd period. Conclusions The introduction of the paediatric AA workflow and the more extensive use of US helped to decrease the percentage of negative rate of paediatric appendicecomy the number of children who underwent unnecessary operation.