Acute appendicitis is the most common non-obstetric reason for exploratory laparotomy during pregnancy. This case report involves a primigravida patient who presented to the emergency department of the General Hospital of Trikala at 15 weeks of gestation due to diffuse abdominal pain, primarily in the epigastric region. She also reported watery bowel movements. The ongoing atypical clinical symptoms, along with elevated inflammatory markers, strongly indicated a diagnosis of acute appendicitis. An immediate exploratory laparotomy was performed, during which acute localized inflammation of the appendix was found, leading to an appendectomy. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. The patient reported pain relief immediately after the surgery. On the fourth postoperative day, she was discharged without any signs of a threatened second-trimester miscarriage. At 39 gestational weeks, she delivered by elective cesarean section due to breech presentation. This paper discusses the case and highlights the significant challenges in the early diagnosis and management of acute appendicitis during pregnancy, emphasizing the importance of preventing potentially life-threatening complications for both the mother and the fetus.

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in pregnant women. There has been a wide variance in clinical practice worldwide, with some favoring an antibiotic-only approach while others prefer surgery as the first-line management. Therefore, we designed the current analysis to synthesize the available evidence on the efficacy and safety of antibiotics versus surgery management. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, EuropePMC, and Cochrane Central from March 4, 1904 until November 25, 2022, to look for studies comparing antibiotics and surgery in pregnant patients with acute appendicitis. We only included studies that provided a comparison between the two treatments. We included preterm delivery, fetal loss, maternal death, and complications as outcomes. The results were compared using an odds ratio and 95% confidence interval. We also performed a sensitivity analysis by excluding studies with a serious risk of bias. Results: We included five non-randomized studies for the analysis. We found that patients in the antibiotic group had a lower risk of preterm labor (OR 0.63 [95% CI 0.43-0.92]; p 0.02) but a higher risk of complications (OR 1.79 [95% CI 1.19-2.69]; p 0.005). We did not find any difference in the other outcomes. Conclusion: The increased risk of complications should caution clinicians about using antibiotics as the first-line management. More studies are required to identify patients who would benefit the most before antibiotics could be adopted as a treatment for acute appendicitis in pregnant patients.

The aim of this study was to analyze the role of thiol/disulfide homeostasis (TDH) parameters as an indicator of oxidative stress in acute appendicitis (AA). PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were systematically searched. Studies reporting on TDH in AA (both complicated and uncomplicated cases) were included. The comparator group were healthy controls. The TDH domain was compared between the groups using anti-oxidant parameters, namely native thiol and total thiol levels, and native thiol/total thiol ratio; and oxidant parameters, namely disulfide level, disulfide/native thiol ratio, and disulfide/total thiol ratio. The statistical analysis was performed using a random-effects model. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed utilizing the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Eleven studies with a total of 926 subjects, comprising 457 patients with uncomplicated appendicitis, 147 with complicated appendicitis, and 322 healthy controls were included. Our study demonstrated significantly increased oxidative stress in AA as compared to healthy controls in all TDH parameters and significantly lower total thiol levels in complicated AA as compared to uncomplicated AA. Due to a poor methodological quality in five out of eleven studies, future prospective studies with adequate power are essential to validate these observations and refine the diagnostic approaches to AA.

Breast cancer is considered one of the most common cancers worldwide. The most common sites for breast cancer to metastasize are the lymph nodes, bones, lungs, brain, and liver. Involvement of the gastrointestinal tract is uncommon, and metastasis to the appendix is rare. We report a case involving a 43-year-old woman with no previous history of malignancy who presented with acute appendicitis and underwent laparoscopic appendectomy, with the final histopathological assessment revealing metastatic breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Acute appendicitis is one of the most commonly encountered surgical emergencies on a global level. Due to the requirement of an immediate clinical diagnosis and the presence of limited resources, clinicians and diagnosticians refer to scoring systems to diagnose this condition, among which Alvarado and Tzanakis scoring systems are widely used. This meta-analysis aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy of these two systems.
METHODS: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and SCOPUS databases. All studies that reported diagnostic parameters of Alvarado and Tzanakis scores in patients with suspected acute appendicitis were selected. Diagnostic values such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy were extracted from the selected studies and statistical analysis was performed with Meta Disc 1.4 software. Quality assessment of the selected studies was performed using the QUADAS-2 and QUADAS-C tools. Fourteen studies were included in our meta-analysis which enrolled 2235 patients.
RESULTS: The overall sensitivity of the Tzanakis score was calculated as 0.86 (95% CI; 0.84-00.87) while the specificity was 0.73 (95% CI; 0.69-0.78). In addition, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.9261 (SE; 0.0169) and the diagnostic Odds Ratio (OR) was 22.52 (95% CI; 9.47-53.56). The pooled sensitivity of Alvarado score was 0.67 (95% CI; 0.65-0.69) and the specificity was 0.74 (95% CI; 0.69-0.79). Moreover, the area under the curve (AUC) of the Alvarado score was 0.7389 (SE; 0.0489) and the diagnostic Odds Ratio was 4.92 (95% CI; 2.48-9.75).
CONCLUSIONS: The Tzanakis scoring system has a higher sensitivity, area under the curve, and diagnostic odds ratio when compared to the Alvarado score. However, the Alvarado score has a marginally better specificity making it more reliable in excluding acute appendicitis.

This study aimed to analyze the diagnostic performance of serum CA-125 in acute appendicitis (AA). This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023450988). We included prospective and retrospective original clinical studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of serum CA-125 in AA. A search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and OVID. Search terms and keywords were: (appendicitis OR appendectomy) AND (CA-125 OR CA125). Two independent reviewers selected the articles and extracted relevant data. Methodological quality was assessed using the QUADAS-2 index. A synthesis of the results, standardization of the metrics, and three random-effect meta-analyses were performed. Five studies with data from 533 participants (including 219 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of AA and 107 controls) were included in this review. The random-effect meta-analysis of serum CA-125 (AA vs controls) included 3 articles (125 AA and 70 controls) and resulted in a non-significant mean difference [95% CI] of - 6.80 [- 20.51, 6.92] U/mL (p = 0.33). The meta-analysis by subgroups that included only male patients resulted in a significant mean difference [95% CI] of 3.48 [0.46, 6.49] U/mL (p = 0.02). Although serum CA-125 does not appear to be a good overall marker for the diagnosis of AA, our subgroup analyses show that this marker could be useful for diagnosing AA in males. It also appears to be a potentially useful tool for discriminating complicated and uncomplicated AA. However, the limited number of included studies precludes drawing generalizable conclusions. Future prospective studies focused on males and in its potential ability to discriminate between complicated and uncomplicated AA are required.Registration. PROSPERO (CRD42023450988).

BACKGROUND: Amyand hernia is the presence of an incarcerated vermiform appendix (either inflamed or not) within the hernia sac. This type of hernia is very rare with an incidence reported to be 0.5 to 1 % and even rarer in adults.
METHODS: We present here two cases of male patients found the have an Amyand Hernia diagnosed incidentally intraoperatively, and managed with appendectomy and mesh herniorrhaphy.
UNASSIGNED: For the management of this type of hernia, in general, the surgeon should perform an appendectomy with the repair to prevent future herniation or appendicitis, but some opinions differ, and state that when there are no signs of inflammation, it is not required to perform a preventative appendectomy.
CONCLUSIONS: The decision on how to manage depends on multiple factors including inflammation of the appendix, the possibility of abdominal sepsis, and the patient comorbidities. The status of the appendix determines whether to undergo hernia repair with or without mesh.

UNASSIGNED: Acute appendicitis (AA) represents the most frequent surgical emergency. Perforation was long considered the ultimate outcome of AA, prompting appendectomy; which remains the standard treatment. New data have clarified the role of the appendix, justifying conservative treatment. This narrative review aims to summarize the evidence regarding the non-operative treatment (NOT) of AA in adults.
UNASSIGNED: The literature search was performed via the PubMed Medline database. Our criteria-based selection resulted in a total of 48 articles for review.
UNASSIGNED: Recent trials and meta-analyses have assessed NOT, which support primary antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated AA. Although it has a significant recurrence and failure rate, NOT does not appear to increase the risk of appendicular perforation. Moreover, NOT compared with appendectomy, seems to be associated with less morbidity, lower cost of care and preserved quality of life.
UNASSIGNED: First-line NOT seems to be a reasonable approach for the treatment of uncomplicated CT-confirmed AA. Careful patient screening would definitely enhance the success rate.

Hungatella species, including Hungatella hathewayi and Hungatella effluvii, previously identified as part of the Clostridium genus, are anaerobic bacteria primarily residing in the gut microbiome, with infrequent implications in human infections. This article presents the case of an 87-year-old Asian male admitted for a hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state with septic shock secondary to Hungatella hathewayi bacteremia originating from acute appendicitis. Remarkably, the bacterium was detected in the blood 48 hours before the emergence of clinical and radiographic evidence of acute appendicitis. Additionally, we conducted a literature review to identify all documented human infections caused by Hungatella species. Timely microbial identification in such cases is essential for implementing targeted antibiotic therapy and optimizing clinical outcomes.

Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare. Artificial intelligence can improve patient care by analyzing large amounts of data to help make more informed decisions regarding treatments and enhance medical research through analyzing and interpreting data from clinical trials and research projects to identify subtle but meaningful trends beyond ordinary perception. Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in computers, where systems of artificial intelligence can perform tasks that require human-like intelligence like speech recognition, visual perception, pattern-recognition, decision-making, and language processing. Artificial intelligence has several subdivisions, including machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and robotics. By automating specific routine tasks, artificial intelligence can improve healthcare efficiency. By leveraging machine learning algorithms, the systems of artificial intelligence can offer new opportunities for enhancing both the efficiency and effectiveness of surgical procedures, particularly regarding training of minimally invasive surgery. As artificial intelligence continues to advance, it is likely to play an increasingly significant role in the field of surgical learning. Physicians have assisted to a spreading role of artificial intelligence in the last decade. This involved different medical specialties such as ophthalmology, cardiology, urology, but also abdominal surgery. In addition to improvements in diagnosis, ascertainment of efficacy of treatment and autonomous actions, artificial intelligence has the potential to improve surgeons\' ability to better decide if acute surgery is indicated or not. The role of artificial intelligence in the emergency departments has also been investigated. We considered one of the most common condition the emergency surgeons have to face, acute appendicitis, to assess the state of the art of artificial intelligence in this frequent acute disease. The role of artificial intelligence in diagnosis and treatment of acute appendicitis will be discussed in this narrative review.