How is pediatric appendicitis treated?

  The appendix is a long, thin strip of intestinal tissue located between the cecum and the ileum. When the appendix is infected and inflamed, children may have abdominal pain (often metastatic abdominal pain, eventually confined to the right lower abdomen), high fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, etc. On examination by a physician, there may be pressure pain in the appendiceal region, with corresponding signs of infection on ancillary blood tests, ultrasound and even CT.  When acute appendicitis occurs, emergency appendectomy is necessary to avoid perforation of the appendix due to the progression of inflammation leading to whole abdomen infection (peritonitis), and the inflammation is not easily confined due to the thin wall of the appendix and the imperfect development of the function of the greater omentum in pediatric patients, which may even endanger life due to infectious shock in severe cases. Therefore, once appendicitis is diagnosed in pediatric patients, it is more important to treat them surgically in a timely manner.