Systematic review and meta-analysis of single-incision versus conventional laparoscopic appendectomy in children.

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence has indicated that single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy (SILA) is a safe procedure that has a comparable clinical outcome to conventional multiport laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA) in adult patients. Nevertheless, the use of SILA in pediatric patients is still controversial, and systematic reviews that compare SILA and CLA in children are lacking in the current literature.

METHODS: A literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and ClinicalTrials.gov was performed to identify eligible studies that were conducted between January 1998 and September 2014. Primary outcome measures were total postoperative complications, wound infection, intra-abdominal abscess, ileus, and wound hematoma. Secondary outcome measures were operative time, length of hospital stay and the frequency of use of additional analgesics. The random effect model was used for the meta-analysis.

RESULTS: The literature search identified 2 randomized clinical trials and 12 nonrandomized clinical trials that met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. These studies included a total of 2249 patients: 744 who underwent SILA and 1505 who underwent CLA. No significant differences were observed between the groups with respect to the incidence of total postoperative complications, intraabdominal abscess, ileus, wound hematoma, length of hospital stay, or the frequency of use of additional analgesics. However, SILA was associated with a higher incidence of wound infection (OR=2.25; 95%=1.21-4.17; P=0.01) compared with CLA and required a longer operative time (WMD=5.73 minutes; 95% CI=4.17-7.28; P<0.00001).

CONCLUSIONS: SILA seems to be a relatively feasible and safe procedure without any superiority to CLA. Thus, SILA may not be a better approach for pediatric patients.