Appendicitis Causes, Symptoms Treatment

Appendicitis occurs due to bacterial infection and obstruction of the vermiform appendix, a tube-shaped extension of the large intestine (the colon). The appendix is usually blocked by calculus or feces, causing it to swell. However, in some cases, the enlargement of the lymph nodes is responsible for the inappropriate activity of the appendix. Due to bacterial infection (also very common in appendicitis), the lymph nodes begin to swell and press against the walls of the appendix, causing it to block. The local blood circulation is also perturbed, causing the death of the appendix. The swelling of the appendix and bacterial infections can lead to serious complications, such as gangrene, sepsis and perforation of the appendix.
The fact that appendicitis occurs and how it occurs it can't be precisely specified. When food waste and a hard piece of stool (fecal stone) is trapped the length of the appendicitis rises. Appendicitis may appear after an infection, especially a gastrointestinal infection or after other types of inflammation. For those types of symptoms the appendix may become filled with puss. If is not immediately treated the appendix may rupture.
What Causes Appendicitis?
Appendicitis occurs when the appendix becomes blocked, often by stool, a foreign body, or cancer. Blockage may also occur from infection, since the appendix swells in response to any infection in the body.In most cases, a blockage inside the appendix probably starts a process in which the appendix becomes inflamed and infected. If inflammation continues without treatment, the appendix can rupture. A ruptured appendix spills bacteria-laden intestinal contents into the abdominal cavity, causing peritonitis, which may result in a life-threatening infection. A rupture also may cause an abscess (a pus-filled pocket of infection) to form. In a woman, the ovaries and fallopian tubes may become infected, and the resulting blockage of the fallopian tubes may cause infertility.
The usual symptoms of appendicitis are: dull pain near the navel or the upper abdomen and it becomes sharp as it moves to the lower right abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting soon after abdominal pain begins, abdominal swelling, fever of 99 grades F to 102 grades F and inability to pass gas. Other symptoms which may appear are: dull or sharp pain anywhere in the upper or lower abdomen, back or rectum, painful urination, vomiting that precedes the abdominal pain, severe cramps and constipation or diarrhea with gas.
Diagnosis
If the examination in the abdominal area shows tenderness the patient should have his blood tested. To establish a certain differential diagnosis between appendicitis and any other viral infection generalized, or problem with the bowel and ovaries count the white blood cells and see if they look immature. CT scan or ultrasound are suggested as methods of diagnosis and even exploratory surgery should be done when physical examination is not enough.
The surgical intervention performed in acute appendicitis is called appendectomy. If acute appendicitis is treated in time, the patients recover quickly and effortless. Most patients are fully recovered within 4 weeks from surgery. However, in the case of complicated acute appendicitis, the patients require special monitoring before and long after the surgical treatment. Complicated acute appendicitis is life-threatening and the rate of mortality in patients with this form of illness is considerably high. Acute appendicitis requires immediate treatment.

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