A Single Case of Single-Port Access Laparoscopic Appendectomy During the Puerperium

Laparoscopic appendectomy is now widely practiced for the treatment of acute appendicitis. As result of increased demand for minimally invasive surgery, single-incision access was introduced and is being performed in various abdominal surgeries. Conventional laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) is gradually being performed in pregnant women. A 33-year-old woman was referred to our department at 39 weeks and 1 day of gestation due to abdominal pain. She was aware of her gastroepiploic pain even after the delivery. Though it was past 2 days, she was not recovering from right lower abdominal pain, so she was transferred to the Department of Gynecology at our hospital on the same day. Although an antibiotic was administered, the right abdominal pain did not improve, and she was referred to our department from the Department of Gynecology. We performed single-port LA (SP-LA). The total operation time was 63 minutes, and the estimated blood loss was 0 mL. She was discharged with no complications on postoperative day 7. We report our initial experience with single-port LA (SP-LA) using the glove technique for treatment of acute appendicitis in a postpartum woman. SP-LA using the glove technique was performed successfully during the puerperium without prolongation of operation time. This approach is less invasive, offers a much better cosmetic result than with conventional methods, and can be performed safely and at low cost.Key words: PLA (single-port laparoscopic appendectomy), PuerperiumThe advantages of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) over open appendectomy (OA) are widely known and include decreased pain, shorter convalescence, and earlier return to work. Especially, LA is advantageous for treating acute appendicitis in pregnant women. Because the appendix of a pregnant woman is shifted from its normal position, OA may leave a larger operative scar than normal. In recent years, efforts of laparoscopic surgeons have resulted in a reduction in both the diameter of the access ports and the number of ports needed.¹ In addition, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is being developed as another form of minimally invasive surgery.² As a part of this process, the single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) technique is presently being developed for various laparoscopic surgeries.³ SILS is a virtually scarless technique in which the single-port access site is hidden in the umbilicus. We think that the primary advantage of single-port laparoscopic appendectomy (SP-LA) is the superior cosmetic result compared with multi-port access LA. We report a very rare case in which SP-LA was performed to treat acute appendicitis during the puerperium. This approach is less invasive, offers a much better cosmetic result than with conventional methods, and can be performed safely and at low cost.