Currently the single-port laparoscopic appendectomy (SLA) has gained popularity in pediatric population since it was first reported in 1998 by Esposito et al. Nonetheless, the practical advantages of SLA over conventional three-port laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA) have yet to be established well in pediatric population due to lacking and inconsistent high-level evidences from randomized trials and meta-analysis.~Thus far, in addition to overall postoperative hospital stay, complications such as wound abscess and seroma, intra-abdominal abscess and ileus were reported not to be significantly different between SLA and CLA, while SLA might have taken longer operation time in children and adult. Currently, the advertised benefits on postoperative pain and cosmetic results of SLA incurred suspicion because of heterogeneous data inconsistently supporting SLA from a few RCTs especially in pediatric population. Consequently, a consensus regarding the practical superiority of SLA to CLA has still not been reached particularly in children.~To address this issue, the investigators designed the randomized trial to clarify practical benefits of SLA over CLA in pediatric population. For this, the investigators compared conversion rate, intra-operative adverse events, operating time, wound complications, intra-abdominal complications, and postoperative hospital stay, changes in postoperative pain severity, and cosmetic outcomes during follow up period between SLA and CLA groups. Primary end points were postoperative pain severity and cosmetic satisfaction. Secondary endpoints were intra- and post-operative complication rates, operation time, and postoperative hospital stay.
Despite growing popularity, practical advantages of single-port laparoscopic appendectomy (SLA) over conventional three-port laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA) have yet to be established well in pediatric population.~The investigators designed the randomized controlled trial to clarify practical advantages of SLA over CLA in pediatric population. The investigators compared conversion rate, intra-operative adverse events, operating time, wound complications, intra-abdominal complications, and postoperative hospital stay, changes in postoperative pain severity, and cosmetic outcomes during follow up period between SLA and CLA groups.