Appendicitis: Delayed surgery may cause infection, Death – Experts

On Oct 1, 2023

Medical experts have described appendicitis as one of the leading causes of surgical emergency admission in most hospitals, warning that delayed appendicectomy, may lead to ruptured appendicitis complications, which can cause infections and even death.

According to a General Surgeon at the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Dr. Lanre Balogun, appendicitis is always presented late in hospitals due to wrong diagnosis or patients’ decisions to treat it with antibiotics, instead of surgery.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, appendicectomy is a medical term used for the surgical removal of an infected appendix, a finger-shaped pouch that sticks out from the colon on the lower right side of the belly, also called the abdomen.

“It also defines appendicitis as a condition in which the appendix becomes inflamed, filled with pus and causes pain near the belly button, which then moves to the right side.

“This is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, fever and chills,” it noted.

Data from the National Library of Medicine indicates that appendicitis accounts for about 15 to 40 per cent of all emergency surgeries done in many facilities in the country, adding that the condition can affect people of all age groups, though with higher incidence among young adults between 20 and 30 years.

The general surgeon lamented that people try to manage or delay the presentation of appendicitis to the hospital until it ruptures and results in disease complications

He noted that high morbidities and occasional mortalities recorded in the cases of appendicitis are usually due to late presentation and delay in treatments, saying that surgery is needed immediately after the condition is confirmed.

Balogun, who said that early presentation of appendicitis cases increases positive outcomes, noted that a 72-hour delay after diagnosis is enough for perforation to take place.

He noted that appendicitis may not be treated with antibiotics in all cases, saying that when the condition is suspected in the hospital, instead of booking for immediate surgery, the patient might be placed on antibiotics.

“Even if such a person recovers without surgery at that point, it will still come up later in the future until it is removed. A delay in appendicectomy is dangerous. It is not what should be delayed. Once it is diagnosed and confirmed, there’s no need to keep it. It is capable of taking someone to the intensive care unit if care is not taken.

“Within 72 hours, it will rupture. Appendicitis sac is full of bacteria and when released into the abdomen, will cause a number of complications in the body. This could lead to death. However, the time of presentation of cases determines the outcome and this is a golden rule in medical practice.”

The case of the late 12-year-old Adebola Akin-Bright, the boy with a missing small intestine, who presented with a ruptured appendicitis readily comes to mind.