Appendicitis- Is it dangerous??

Fig- Location of appendix.

Having a horrible abdominal pain is never fun.

And it’s even less fun when you’re sitting there curled up in a ball mildly panicking and googling your symptoms, unsure if it’s just horrible gas, nasty period cramps, a bout of food poisoning, or something more severe—like appendicitis.

Appendicitis means inflammation of the appendix, a structure found on the right lower quadrant of the abdomen arising from intestine. The cause of appendicitis isn't always clear. In many cases, the appendix gets blocked up with a fecolith (a hard mass of stool), causing it to become swollen and infected.

An infected appendix is notoriously painful and uncomfortable—and it also can turn into a potentially life-threatening medical emergency if you don’t treat it quickly.

The symptoms of appendicitis include pain on the right side of the lower abdomen (that typically feels worse if you move around), nausea, bloating, and possibly a fever and/or vomiting.

Fig - Appendicitis pain.

Generally, a person will first feel sick and notice that pain is near the center of abdomen specially near belly button—but these are initial symptoms and it may be tough to distinguish from a typical stomach ache, so people often wait. Then, as the appendix continues to swell, it will start to irritate the wall of the abdomen, which is when the pain will usually migrate down to the right lower part of the abdomen where the appendix is located.

If your appendix ruptures, you might feel a sensation of relief, but that is temporary. If the appendix ruptures, then the infection will spread within your abdominal cavity and that is a medical emergency.

A ruptured appendix is a potentially life-threatening complication of appendicitis—which is why you want to rule out appendicitis as quickly as possible before this happens. You never can predict when an infected appendix is going to rupture, so surgically removing the appendix before it ruptures is the best form of treatment.

Diagnosis of Appendicitis

History of the pain and symptoms of the patient.

Physical Examination

Abdominal ultrasound .

Abdominal CT scan.

Appendicitis Treatment

Appendectomy:

The appendix is removed.

It may be done by laparoscopic method or by conventional open method.

If a CT scan shows that a lump is formed in the appendix , then the patient is treated for infection and appendix is removed only after the infection and inflammation have gone away and the lump has settled.

Specimen of appendix after appendectomy.