Treatment for Appendicitis

How do doctors treat appendicitis?

Doctors typically treat appendicitis with surgery to remove the appendix. Surgeons perform the
surgery in a hospital with general anesthesia. Your doctor will recommend surgery if you have
continuous abdominal pain and fever, or signs of a burst appendix and infection. Prompt surgery
decreases the chance that your appendix will burst.

Health care professionals call the surgery to remove the appendix an appendectomy. A surgeon
performs the surgery using one of the following methods:

 Laparoscopic surgery. During laparoscopic surgery, surgeons use several smaller

incisions and special surgical tools that they feed through the incisions to remove your
appendix. Laparoscopic surgery leads to fewer complications, such as hospital-related
infections, and has a shorter recovery time.
 Laparotomy. Surgeons use laparotomy to remove the appendix through a single
incision in the lower right area of your abdomen.

After surgery, most patients completely recover from appendicitis and don’t need to make changes to
their diet, exercise, or lifestyle. Surgeons recommend that you limit physical activity for the first 10 to
14 days after a laparotomy and for the first 3 to 5 days after laparoscopic surgery.

What if the surgeon finds a normal appendix?

In some cases, a surgeon finds a normal appendix during surgery. In this case, many surgeons will
remove it to eliminate the future possibility of appendicitis. Sometimes surgeons find a different
problem, which they may correct during surgery.

Can doctors treat appendicitis without

surgery?
Some cases of mild appendicitis may be cured with antibiotics alone. All patients suspected of having
appendicitis are treated with antibiotics before surgery, and some patients may improve completely
before surgery is performed.

How do doctors treat complications of a burst

appendix?
Treating the complications of a burst appendix will depend on the type of complication. In most
cases of peritonitis, a surgeon will remove your appendix immediately with surgery. The surgeon will
use laparotomy to clean the inside of your abdomen to prevent infection and then remove your
appendix. Without prompt treatment, peritonitis can cause death.
A surgeon may drain the pus from an appendiceal abscess during surgery or, more commonly, before
surgery. To drain an abscess, the surgeon places a tube in the abscess through the abdominal wall.
You leave the drainage tube in place for about 2 weeks while you take antibiotics to treat infection.
When the infection and inflammation are under control, about 6 to 8 weeks later, surgeons operate
to remove what remains of the burst appendix.

November 2014