Appendicitis is one of the most common acute diseases of the abdominal cavity, and because the disease is considered a medical emergency, we must be aware of its symptoms.
Children cannot always describe the type of pain they feel, so it is important to recognize the symptoms that indicate appendicitis, notes pediatric surgeon Dr. Ksenia Utkina.
According to her, obstruction of the appendix cavity leads to its inflammation. The reason may also be interruption of blood supply to it. In general, appendicitis can occur for various reasons - from hardened feces or fruit seeds falling into its cavity to spasm or compression of blood vessels against the background of intestinal curvature.
According to her, the appendix has lost its primary function (digestion), but retains the function of a lymphatic organ, since there is lymphatic tissue in its cavity that swells when interacting with infection. Against the background of swelled tissue, vascular disorders may occur. In general, it can be said that the causes of appendicitis are many and varied and there is no effective way to prevent it.
The most important symptoms of appendicitis are: abdominal pain, so when a child complains of abdominal pain, a doctor should be consulted to ensure that it does not indicate appendicitis. The child may not feel abdominal pain, but show signs of weakness, lethargy, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting.
According to her, when the appendix is located in the abdominal cavity in an unusual way - in the pelvic cavity, or under the liver, which leads to a change in the nature and intensity of the pain, it becomes difficult to diagnose its inflammation.
“For these reasons, the diagnosis of appendicitis is always the task of a qualified physician only because abdominal pain may be a symptom of other surgical diseases that require surgical intervention such as intussusception, diverticulitis, intestinal obstruction, the presence of foreign bodies in the abdominal cavity, acute gynecological diseases in girls and others,” she says.