TULAA: A Minimally Invasive Appendicectomy Technique for the Paediatric Patient

Table 2

Summary of the analysed literature including surgical time (in minutes), length of hospital stay (in days unless otherwise specified), and complications/need for additional ports.

Author	Population number of patients, age in years	Surgical time (minutes)	Hospital stay (days)	Complications/need for additional ports
Esposito 1998 [5]	51 patients; 4–16 (μ 7)	M 25 (12–45)	M 2 (1–4)	None
Valla et al. 1999 [6]	200 patients; 5–18 (μ 9)	M 15 (10–90)	M 2 (1–22)	16 (8%): insertion of another trocar; 3 (1.5%): parietal complications; 7 (3.5%): intra-abdominal complications
Martino et al. 2001 [7]	40 patients,; paediatric, age not specified	M 50.9 (30–120)	Not specified	Not specified
Pappalepore et al. 2002 [8]	58 patients; paediatric, age not specified	M 25	2–4	1: conversion to open (1.7%); 1: additional trocar (1.7%)
D’Alessio et al. 2002 [9]	150 patients; 2.5–17.4	μ 35	μ 3.5	28: additional trocar (18.6%); 6: conversions to OA (4%)
Rispoli et al. 2002 [10]	65 patients; mixed population, age not specified	M 25 (15–70)	M 2 (1–4)	5: additional trocar (7.7%); 5: conversions to OA (7.7%)
Koontz et al. 2006 [11]	111 patients; μ	M 36 (9–140)	μ 1.8 (1–11)	2: additional trocar (1.8%); 2: conversions to OA (1.8%); 1: intra-abdominal abscess (0.9); 7: wound infections (6.3%)
Varshney et al.2007 [12]	11 patients; 12–56 y.o. (μ 34)	M 20 (15–25)	M 1.5 (1-2)	None
Visnjic 2008 [13]	29 patients; 5–17 (μ 9.5)	μ 39 (24–66)	M 3	4: wound infections (13.7%)
Guanà et al. 2010 [14]	231 patients; μ 11.6 (3–18)	μ 38 (25–100)	μ 3.5 (3–7)	1: insertion of second trocar (0.43%); 1: insertion of two additional trocars (0.43%); 1: enlargement of initial incision; 2: conversions to OA (8.6%)
Sesia et al. 2010 [15]	262; μ 11.4 (1.1–15.9)	Not specified	Not specified	3: intra-abdominal abscess (1.1%)
Saber et al. 2010 [16]	26 patients; M 33 (13–64)	M 45.9 (30–80)	M 1.1 (0–2)	4: additional trocar (15.4%); 3: two additional trocars (11.5%)
Shekherdimian and DeUgarte 2011 [17]	21 patients; paediatric, age not specified	μ	μ	3: conversions to OA (14.3%)
Stylianos et al. 2011 [18]	398 patients; paediatric, age not specified	μ 24 (5–56)	Not reported	39: additional one or more trocars (9.8%)
Ostlie 2011 [19]	180 patients; μ	μ	M < 1 day ( h)	3.3%: surgical site infection
Ohno et al. 2012 [20]	500 patients; M 10.2 (2–16)	M 44.5 (10–169)	M 7.9 (1–89)	3: single additional trocar (0.6%); 11: two additional trocars (2.2%); 21: intraoperative complications (4.2%); 26: postoperative complications (5.2%)
Codrich et al. 2013 [21]	203 patients; μ 10 (3–17)	M 52	Not reported	181: urgent operations; 5: wound infections (2.5%); 5: abscess (2.5%)
Koizumi et al. 2015 [22]	94 patients; μ 41.1 (13–89)	M 54 (23–223)	M 4.7 (1–33)	5: surgical site infection (5.3%); 1: abscess (1%); 2: ileus (2.1)
Nicola 2014 [23]	120 patients; μ 9.9 (6–14)	μ 58.6 (14–135)	μ 3.7 (2–14)	11: additional trocar (9%); 8: conversion to LAP (6%); 5: surgical site infection (4%); 1: abscess (0.8%)
Bergholz et al. 2014 [24]	20 patients; Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Reported to be not significantly different from OA and LA group
Gupta et al. 2014 [25]	58 patients; μ 10.2 (3–16)	M 52	μ	3 cases converted to OA (5.2%)
Kulaylat et al. 2014 [26]	132 patients; μ 9.4 (3.8)	μ 36	M 4 (0.7–12)	1: surgical wound infection (0.75%); 5: intra-abdominal abscess (3.8%)
Scirè et al. 2014 [27]	62 patients; Not specified	Not specified	Not specified	Similar complications in the three included groups (see text for details)
Noviello et al. 2015 [28]	300 patients	μ 42	Not reported	45: conversion to OA (15%); 3: conversion to LA (1%); 11: surgical site infection (3.7%)

μ: mean, M: median, and OA: open appendicectomy.