Auditing Appendectomy in Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Nigeria

Appendicitis is the leading cause of surgical admission in most hospitals in Nigeria and the removed appendix, a frequent surgical specimen in most routine histopathological laborato-ries in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to audit the appendectomy procedures in Benue State University Teaching Hospital. Sixty-two appendices removed for acute appendix in Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Nigeria middle belt, over an 8-year period were analyzed. Twenty-eight (45%) were found to be normal, while 29 (46%) showed histopathological eviden-ce of acute inflammation. There were 5 (9%) cases of unusual pathologies which include a case each of metastatic adenocarcinoma and chronic granulomatous inflammation (2% each) and 3 (5%) cases of schistosomiasis. The Negative Appendectomy Rate (NAR) was 27% in females compared with 18% in males. Adult (>16 years) represented 29% of the NAR. The overall NAR was 45%. The NAR in this study is considerable higher when compared with existing literature. In a poor resource center like Benue State University Teaching Hospital, due diligence in taking detailed history coupled with good clinical examination cannot be over emphasized. The use of a combination of Total Leukocyte Count (TCC) and C-Reactive Protein (CPR) in every patient may help in reducing NAR, though it's definitely going to be impossible to eradicate it.

Surgical peripheral lymph node biopsies in Makurdi, Nigeria

This study aims at determining the diagnostic value of peripheral lymph node biopsy and com-mon causes of lymph node enlargement from biopsies obtained from patients with lymph-node enlargement at different sites in a teaching hospital in north central Nigeria town of Makurdi, Benue State. This is a retrospective study of surgical peripheral lymph node biopsies received in the department of Anatomic Pathology, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Ni-geria from February, 2012 to September, 2019. Total number of lymph node biopsies during the period was 47 representing 1.0% of surgical pathology specimens submitted to the department; 25 cases were females and 22 were males. Metastatic nodal involvement (57%), lymphoma (23%) and tuberculosis lymphadenitis (11%) were the most common causes of lymph node enlargement. All the studied nodes were localized. The most common sites of lymphadenopathy were axillary (21%), cervical (16%) and Inguinal (6%). While axillary lymph node enlargements were mostly associated with tumor metastasis, cervical and inguinal node enlargements were mostly associated with tuberculosis and lymphoma, respectively. Surgical excision of nodal en-largement for histological examination represents a simple, good diagnostic yield with lack of significant morbidity or mortality.