Appendicitis / Appendectomy

Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix, a finger-shaped worm-like pouch that attaches to your colon on the lower right side of your abdomen (vermiform appendix).

In most people an appendicitis begins with a pain around the navel. With time, the pain usually worsens and moves to the lower right side of the belly. Loss of appetite, vomiting, nausea and low-grade fever may also occur and worsen as the illness progresses.

Although anyone can develop appendicitis, most often it occurs in people between the ages of 10 and 30.

Make an appointment with your surgeon if you or your child has worrisome signs or symptoms, severe abdominal pain requires immediate medical attention. To confirm or rule out appendicitis, your doctor will examine the abdomen and order blood and urine tests such as CRP, BCSR, leucosytes and if necessary an ultrasound of the abdomen.

Early signs and syptoms of appendicitis are often mild and if it is a so-called subacute appendicitis, there is often an edema of the appendix with no risk of perforation. The approach to these cases may include a period of observation. Your doctor will order the stop food and liquids and get the patient on the hospital ward, placing a venous infusion. If the hospitalized patient gets better under medical observation and remains symptom free after switching to light diet, your surgeon can dismiss you home.

However, if your doctor suspects acute appendicitis and the infection is clear, this condition requires immediate surgery to remove the appendix wirhout delay. If not treated promptly, the appendix can burst and spread pus and bacteria throughout the abdomen (this type of infection is called peritonitis), which is a very serious, life threatening infection.

Your surgeon will usually remove the inflamed appendix through an open appendectomy, traditionally making a small 5-6 cm (2-3 inches) incision in the lower right side of the abdomen. New techniques for removing the appendix involve the use of a laparoscope (laparascopic appendectomy), a thin telescope attached to a video camera. This laparoscopic technique makes only sense in the very early stages of the illness, when there is no abscess or in order to make a clear diagnosis in cases in which the diagnosis of appendicitis is in doubt. . If you face the danger of a perforation and an abscess around the appendix, your surgeon will perform the open surgery.

An appendectomy usually requires a 2- to 3-day hospital stay, get back to your everyday life and back to work 2 weeks after surgery.