Attention to Acute Appendicitis in Children – Health News

Pediatric surgeon Prof. Dr. Haluk Ceylan explained how appendicitis arises and how it causes symptoms: “Due to the obstruction of the cavity in the appendix, inflammation starts in the organ and appendicitis occurs. Abdominal pain is the first and most important complaint seen in children with appendicitis. Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, high fever, fatigue are some of the other complaints that can be seen in children with appendicitis. The following should never be forgotten:

Abdominal pain is a common complaint in children in general, therefore any child presenting with abdominal pain should never be diagnosed with appendicitis without proper investigation and unnecessary surgery should be avoided. If the child has the above complaints, the emergency department or a paediatrician should be consulted immediately. If the doctor examining the child thinks that the patient may have appendicitis, he may ask the pediatric surgeon to examine the patient. After examining the patient, the pediatric surgeon will request blood tests, urinalysis, abdominal x-rays and ultrasound. Computed tomography examination may sometimes be necessary in patients who are believed to have a preliminary diagnosis of appendicitis. If appendicitis is suspected in the child and it cannot be decided whether or not to operate, the patient can be followed up in the pediatric surgery outpatient clinic. During this follow-up, the child is monitored with periodic examinations and the blood tests can be repeated if necessary. The follow-up period can be up to 24 hours. If there is no deterioration in the complaints and examination findings of the patient being followed up, the pediatric surgeon can decide to operate. In today’s classical medical practice, the method of treatment of appendicitis is surgery. During the operation, the inflamed appendix is ​​removed. The child is operated under emergency conditions. After the operation has been decided, the child is treated with serum, antibiotics and painkillers. The patient brought under control in this way is operated on within a few hours. In recent scientific studies; When the diagnosis of appendicitis was made late at night, it turned out that waiting in the morning for the child’s surgery did no harm to the patient. The operation is performed after the patient has been put to sleep under general anesthesia. Appendicitis surgery can be performed laparoscopically (closed surgery) or openly. Laparoscopic surgery is primarily preferred in pediatric surgery. Because the pain after laparoscopic surgery is less, the patient returns to his normal daily life more quickly and better cosmetic results are achieved.

Appendicitis is an emergency operation often performed by pediatric surgeons. The chance of developing complications (health problems that occur after surgery) is very low in children who are operated on in a timely manner and in safe hands. The pediatric surgeon should inform the parents very well about the complications that may arise after the operation, and should not hide these facts from the patient’s owners before the operation. Postoperative wound infection and wound dehiscence are the most common complications and relatively easy to treat. Although rare, significant complications can arise; These are intra-abdominal abscesses and intestinal adhesions. Complications after surgery may require additional treatments, which may extend the child’s hospitalization.