Surgical Management of Acute Abdomen in Adult Patients: Experience from a Private Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Acute abdomen is a major surgical problem in Ethiopia with surgery for acute abdominal conditions accounting for roughly one-third of total emergency operations in many centers. This study was conducted with the aim of studying the pattern and outcome of surgically managed acute abdominal cases in a private general hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of acute abdominal cases in adult patients operated at Teklehaimanot General Hospital between January 1, 2018 and August 1, 2019. RESULTS: A total of 267 patients' medical records were reviewed. The male to female ratio was 1.5:1 and majority of patients were between the age range of 20 to 40 years with mean age of 36±16 years. The average duration of symptoms before arrival was 71.1±84.4 hours (range 3 to 504 hours) and only 85 (31.8%) of patients reached to the Hospital within 24 hours or less of onset of symptoms. Acute appendicitis was the most common cause of acute abdomen; observed in 193 (72.3%) of the cases. Overall post-operative complication rate was 14.8% and post-operative mortality rate was 1.9%. It was found that delayed presentation (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.64–7.84), old age (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.89–3.59), and tachycardia at presentation (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.03–6.82) were major predictors of morbidity and mortality in operated patients. CONCLUSION: In this study acute appendicitis accounted for the majority of cases operated for acute abdomen. Length of post-operative hospital stay, early post-operative complication rate, and overall mortality rate were found to be significantly lower in our series than other reports.