Objective: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical emergencies. Here we aimed to evaluate the patient, disease characteristics and treatment by comparing open and laparoscopic surgery for appendicitis. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in Gaziosmanpasa University Deparment of General Surgery between january 2011 and january 2012, and laparoscopic approach was exclusively adopted for the treatment of appendicitis. The patient demographics, disease characteristics, pathological findings, morbidity, mortality and length of hospital stay were retrieved from patients file. Results: 156 patients were included into the study. Of these, 73 patients had laparoscopic appendectomy, while 83 had open appendectomy. 98 patients were male and the rest was female. There was no difference between demographic features of patients who were operated by either technique. The mean interval time was 8.73 +/- 12.69 and 4.44 +/- 8.68 hours for laparoscopic and open surgery cases between admission and operation time with significant difference (p=0.014). Only the rebound was the statistically significantly different physical examination finding between groups (p=0.003). Drains were frequently placed in laparoscopic cases than open ones with significant difference (p=0.006). Moreover, the length of hospital stay was shorter in laparoscopy (1.83+/-0.83 vs. 2.66+/-1.69; p