Appendicitis in Hungary through the eyes of a health insurance specialist

Abstract

Appendicitis is the most common surgical disease. There is a very large literature for both its diagnosis and therapy. Aims: The author examined whether patients who were admitted with the diagnosis of appendicitis underwent surgery and what admission diagnoses were reported in cases of surgically treated patients. Results: In Hungary, there have been more than 92,000 appendectomies performed in the last eleven years. The proportion of laparoscopic surgery was 2.0% in 2000 and it rose to 18.8% in 2010. Using database of the national health insurance the author found that 5.6% of all surgically treated patients were referred to hospital with a diagnosis other than appendicitis. In contrast, 18.1% of the patients referred to hospital with the diagnosis of appendicitis were discharged without surgery. Conclusions: In Hungary, there are large regional differences in the proportion of surgery. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 1843–1848.