Table.
Comparison of clinical characteristics and treatment factors between the 2 surgical approaches
| Characteristics / Factors | Group; mean ± SD or no. (%) | p value | |||
| Successful TULAA
Group (n=142) |
CLA Group
(n=126) |
||||
| Age (years) | 11.3 ± 3.4 | 10.6 ± 3.2 | 0.085a | ||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 16.5 ± 2.2 | 16.8 ± 2.0 | 0.246a | ||
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 68 (47.89%) | 61 (48.41%) | 0.932b | ||
| Female | 74 (52.11%) | 65 (51.59%) | |||
| Operation time (mins) | 28.5 ± 10.5 | 42.5 ± 10.7 | <0.001a | ||
| Time for postoperative ambulation (hours) | 8.5 ± 1.5 | 12.5 ± 2.0 | <0.001a | ||
| Postoperative exhaustion time (hours) | 10.5 ± 5.5 | 16.8 ± 6.8 | <0.001a | ||
| Hospitalization expenses (RMB) | 6290.5 ± 58.5 | 7381.5 ± 60.5 | <0.001a | ||
| Postoperative complications | 2 (1.41%) | 1 (0.79%) | >0.999c | ||
| Surgical wound effusion | 1 | 0 | / | ||
| Intra-abdominal abscess | 1 | 0 | / | ||
| Surgical wound infection | 0 | 1 | / | ||
TULAA: transumbilical extracorporeal laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy
CLA: conventional three-port laparoscopic appendectomy
BMI: body mass index
*p values: a=Student’s t-test, b=Chi-square test, c=Fisher’s exact test.