Patient: Multiple episodes of pain in the right lower abdomen, first occurring 1 year ago. Since a year ago, there have been 3 episodes of pain in the right lower abdomen, all of which were cured by suspension at the clinic and are now better, although sometimes I still feel a vague pain in the right lower abdomen. Do I need surgery to treat it? Lin Zongqi, Department of Surgery, Overseas Chinese Hospital, Shishi, Fujian Province: Once acute appendicitis is diagnosed, the best treatment option is surgical removal. Most of those who refuse surgery and go through conservative treatment will turn into chronic appendicitis or have recurrent attacks in the future, like your case, which is a recurrent acute attack of chronic appendicitis. For appendicitis surgery, the surgical incision can be very small (about 3-4 cm) for a normal position, but individual positions are abnormal, such as posterior, pelvic, subhepatic or too thick abdominal fat layer should enlarge the incision. You can also choose to perform a laparoscopic appendectomy with 3 holes in the abdomen with a laparoscope, each 0.5-1 cm. Laparoscopic surgery has the advantages of less trauma, facilitates intraoperative exploration, faster postoperative recovery, shorter hospital stay, and cosmetic appearance.