Risk of appendiceal cancer in patients undergoing appendectomy for appendicitis in the era of increasing nonoperative management

Abstract Background and Objectives Management practices for acute appendicitis are changing. In cases of nonoperative treatment, the risk of missed or delayed diagnosis of malignancy should be considered. We aimed to identify predictors associated with appendiceal cancer diagnosis after appendectomy for acute appendicitis. Materials and Methods This retrospective cohort study was performed using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) appendectomy‐targeted data set from 2016 to 2017. A total of 21 069 patients with imaging‐confirmed or imaging indeterminate appendicitis who underwent appendectomy were included. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of cancer diagnosis. Results Increasing age had an increasing monotonic relationship with the odds of pathologic cancer diagnosis after appendectomy (age 50‐59 odds ratio [OR], 2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28‐3.39, P = .003; age 60‐69 OR, 2.89, 95% CI, 1.72‐4.83, P < .001; age 70‐79 OR, 3.85, 95% CI, 2.08‐7.12, P < .001; age >80 OR, 5.32, 95% CI, 2.38‐11.9, P < .001). Other significant predictors included obesity, morbid obesity, normal preoperative white blood cell count, and imaging indeterminate for appendicitis. Conclusions When counseling patients regarding operative vs nonoperative treatment options for management of acute appendicitis, the rising risk of a delayed or missed cancer diagnosis with increasing age must be discussed.