Surgery

The best treatment for appendicitis requires surgery to remove the appendix (the operation is called an appendectomy)  before the appendix opens or ruptures. While awaiting surgery, the patient will be given IV fluids to keep hydrated. The patient will not be allowed to eat or drink because doing so may cause complications with the anesthesia during surgery.

Surgery is commonly done laparoscopically (through small incisions using a camera in the abdominal cavity). However, in some cases it may be necessary to do an open abdominal procedure to take the appendix out.

Up to 20% of surgeries for appendicitis reveal a non-inflamed appendix (negative appendectomy). The difficulty in making a definite diagnosis of this medical problem and the risk of missing the acutely inflamed appendix (and the patient becoming very ill due to perforation) makes a certain rate of misdiagnosis inevitable. Women in particular have a high rate of negative appendectomy as ovarian and uterine problems make the diagnosis more difficult. CT scanning prior to surgery has been shown to decrease this percentage to closer to 7%-8% in women.

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Appendicitis - Symptoms Experienced

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