Appendicitis FAQs

Who treats appendicitis?
A general surgeon or a gastroenterologist treats appendicitis.

Is appendicitis preventable?
There is no known way to prevent appendicitis. However, if you are able to recognize appendicitis symptoms, you can prevent serious appendicitis complications from occurring.

Removing the appendix is the only sure cut way of preventing appendicitis. This may be done if intrabdominal surgery is being performed for other reasons and the appendix is removed incidentally but it is not practiced as a routine.

Does appendicitis always present with typical symptoms?
Immunosuppressive therapy, Diabetes Mellitus, Chemotherapy and Obesity are some of the special conditions in which the patients may not have the typical set of symptoms for appendicitis and may simply experience a general feeling of being unwell.

What are the Complications of appendicitis?
The most serious complication of appendicitis is an infection of the lining of your abdominal cavity (peritonitis). This may occur if your appendix ruptures (perforates) and the contents of your intestines and infectious organisms invade the peritoneal cavity. Peritonitis is a medical emergency.

Sometimes, infection and the seepage of intestinal contents may form an abscess, a walled-off area of infection (appendiceal abscess), it requires surgery before the abscess itself perforates, causing peritonitis.

What are the symptoms of peritonitis?
When the appendix ruptures, the patient may suddenly feel better. But soon after, the entire abdomen may become distended with gas and fluid and will likely feel tight, hard and tender to the touch. He may also have pain throughout the abdomen, but may not have the severe, localized pain of appendicitis. In addition, he may not be able to pass gas or have a bowel movement because of the inflammation. Other signs and symptoms may include a fever, thirst and a low urine output.

Can appendicitis be treated with medicines?
In some cases, infections may cause the same symptoms as appendicitis. Therefore, if an appendicitis diagnosis is uncertain, people may be watched and sometimes receive antibiotics as appendicitis treatment. If the cause of the pain is an infection, symptoms should resolve with intravenous antibiotics and intravenous fluids. However, if the patient has appendicitis, the condition cannot be treated with antibiotics alone and will require surgery.

Are there long-term consequences of appendectomy?
It is not clear if the appendix has an important role in the body in older children and adults. There are no major, long-term health problems resulting from removing the appendix although a slight increase in some diseases has been noted, for example, Crohn's disease.