Abstract:
Background: Central Regional Hospital, Cape Coast,
Ghana is the main referral center for the region.
The hospital has been redesignated a Teaching
Hospital to serve as the main teaching base for the
School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast.
This study was done as part of assessment of the
hospital’s emergency surgical needs for purpose of
planning and resource allocation.
Objectives: The study objectives were to quantify and
to characterize cases of acute abdominal emergencies
operated at the Central Regional Hospital, and to
assess the clinicians diagnostic accuracy by
comparing the preoperative diagnosis with the
postoperative findings.
Methodology: A retrospective and comparative study
was performed based on the records of the
Accident/emergency, wards, and theatre units, over a
period from October 2009 to September 2010.
A total of 122 cases were recorded.
Results: Ruptured ectopic cyesis(23.8%) was the
most frequent preoperative diagnosis, followed by non
specific abdominal pain(18.9%), typhoid
perforation(13.1%), acute appendicitis(12.3%) and
intestinal obstruction(9.8%).
Post operatively, ruptured ectopic cyesis(38.9%),
acute appendicitis(16.7%) and typhoid
perforation(12.5%) were recorded.
The preoperative diagnosis was wrong in 2.7% (n=2)
of cases.
Conclusion: Ruptured ectopic cyesis was the most
common abdominal condition operated on and
incidence of typhoid perforation is high. Preoperative
diagnoses was wrong in 2 cases.
Key words: Acute abdomen, ectopic cyesis
