A young child arrives at the emergency room after several days of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea and is sent home with a diagnosis of viral gastritis and treatment for the symptoms. The child seems better for a while, only to return to the ER with worse symptoms and a ruptured appendix, a life-threatening complication of appendicitis.
The scenario is not uncommon, experts say, because children with appendicitis don't usually have the classic symptoms of the condition, but pediatricians at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center say there are ways for doctors and parents to tell the difference early on between a potentially deadly burst appendix - which can kill in a matter of days, even hours - and a stomach bug.
Past research has found that half of appendicitis cases are misdiagnosed when they first present at the emergency room or the doctor's office and that up to 80 percent of appendicitis cases in children younger than 4 years of age end up in rupture.
Says emergency room pediatrician Jennifer Anders, M.D., of Hopkins Children's, who has seen her fair share of burst appendixes, "appendicitis should always be near the top of the list of potential culprits when a child has any abdominal pain, vomiting, and malaise," keeping in mind that many children don't have fever or lose appetite the way adults might.
Doctors recommend that children with prolonged or severe abdominal symptoms that do not go away or improve should be evaluated for ruptured appendix. Consider the following questions: