3 ms·
this qualifier is interesting: > researchers led by Paulina Salminen randomly assigned 530 patients that showed up in the hospital with an acute, uncomplicated
by shoo 8y ago
this qualifier is interesting:
> researchers led by Paulina Salminen randomly assigned 530 patients that showed up in the hospital with an acute, uncomplicated appendicitis to get either a standard, open surgery to remove their inflamed organ or a course of antibiotics. (By “uncomplicated,” the authors mean there weren’t other issues like perforation, abscess, or suspicion of a tumor.)
although if your appendix is already perforated then it's a bit late to try to prevent it from perforating by cutting it out, so fair enough.
- arkades 8y agoYou've made the correct conclusion. Management of a perforated appendix is vastly different from management of the (much more common) uncomplicated appy. There isn't much controversy about the management of the perforated appy: it's going to be surgery and antibiotics. Removal at that point isn't in question, because the perforation is due to an increase in intra-appendiceal pressure compressing its vasculature, causing a focal necrosis. The perforation happens when a piece of the appendix dies, and thus loses its integrity. Dead tissue has to go. And of course surgical clean-up of the abdomen must follow, along with a big pile of abx.