Medical Questions » Gut (Intestines) Questions » Question No. 437
| Question: | What is appendicitis, and how do people get this problem? My sister has just had hers removed at age 38. |
| Answer: | Appendicitis is an infection of the appendix, which is a narrow dead end tube about 12 cm long that attaches to the caecum (first part of the large intestine). It is an almost unknown condition in poorer countries for dietaty reasons, and the lack of fibre in Western diets is often blamed, although its incidence is steadily falling due to better dietary education. In other mammals, particularly those that eat grass, the appendix is an important structure which aids in the digestion of cellulose, but in humans it serves no useful purpose.
If the narrow tube of the appendix becomes blocked by faeces, food, mucus or some foreign body, bacteria start breeding in the closed-off area behind the blockage.
When a patient develops appendicitis, pain develops around the navel and soon moves to the lower right side of the abdomen just above the pelvic bone and steadily worsens. It is often associated with loss of appetite, slight diatrhoea and a mild fever.
There is no specific diagnostic test, but blood and urine tests are done to exclude other causes of pain. Once removed, the appendix will be sent to a pathologist to confirm the diagnosis.
The only effective treatment is surgical removal of the appendix in a simple operation (appendectomy) which takes about 20 minutes. The usual hospital stay is only two days, and patients return to work in seven to ten days. The operation is sometimes done through laparoscopes (1 cm diameter tubes). The surgeon looks through one and operates through two others, leaving only three tiny scars scattered across the belly. This speeds recovery so that sometimes only a single night is required in hospital.
If left untreated, the appendix becomes steadily more infected, full of pus, and eventually bursts to cause peritonitis. Most patients get very good results from treatment.
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