Appendiceal abscess.

Of 61 patients with appendiceal abscess, 32 were treated by incision and drainage without appendectomy, with 16% morbidity. Seventeen patients had incision and drainage with appendectomy, with 24% morbidity. One patient, admitted in septic shock, died without operation. Average hospitalization was shortest in the nine patients treated nonoperatively. Many patients with appendiceal mass or abscess do not require immediate operation. In the 42 patients discharged without appendectomy, the recurrence rate of appendicitis was 5% at 9.1 months' average follow-up. Thirty-two elective interval appendectomies were performed at an average interval of 96 days, with 13% morbidity. At interval appendectomy, those patients from whom a free fecalith had been removed at the time of drainage had the greatest degree of appendiceal destruction. Interval appendectomy is probably not necessary in such patients.