Pain

Appendicitis: How to recognize it?

It is one of the most common hospital emergencies, with symptoms that abdominal pain has its protagonist symptom, although not the only one. Of unknown function, appendix, when infected and inflamed (appendicitis) can lead to health complications if left untreated.

appendicitis

Appendicitis knows no age but is more common among people less than 30 years. What are the symptoms? Are the same in adults and children? When resulting in peritonitis? They are some of the questions surrounding a pathology whose risk of suffering throughout life varies from 6 to 20%.

Appendicitis is one of the most common causes of emergency abdominal surgery. It is caused by inflammation of the appendix and requires surgical intervention, which is called an appendectomy and, in other words, is to remove the inflamed appendix. Appendix no defined function, small (between 5 and 10 centimeters in length) and formed by intestinal tissue is located in the area that joins the small intestine and the thickness in the lower right abdomen. Appendicitis is not old, but its appearance is more common among ten to 30 years.

The most common symptoms are pain in central abdomen, near the navel, which little by little is moved to the lower right, closer to the appendix. The pain usually comes accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite and, while it is moved, also causes difficulty for walking, when moving or coughing.

If pressing on the area of the abdomen and lift your hand suddenly the pain increases, it tends to be unmistakable sign of appendicitis. However, symptoms are not always so obvious; in fact, younger patients may present only with symptoms like vomiting and distended abdomen, which may also be due to gastrointestinal problems. When in doubt, and when any of the symptoms listed, especially in children, have consulted a doctor.

Appendicitis: Treatment

Once confirmed the diagnosis – symptoms, abdominal scan, analysis of urine and abdominal ultrasound, to follow treatment is surgery, because otherwise it can move forward and drill the appendix and cause a severe infection such as an abscess or peritonitis (peritoneal inflammation that causes infection of the appendix through the abdominal cavity). Appendicitis does not usually more than a few days in hospital.

In the field of surgical appendicitis treatment also been progress. Thus, recently, German researchers have proposed a new method without scars and that is through the navel. A technique that, according to suggest, would help to avoid the incisional hernia and infections of wounds, while cause less pain than traditional techniques.

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