Appendicitis News and Research

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Appendicitis is a painful swelling and infection of the appendix. The appendix is a fingerlike pouch attached to the large intestine and located in the lower right area of the abdomen. Scientists are not sure what the appendix does, if anything, but removing it does not appear to affect a person’s health. The inside of the appendix is called the appendiceal lumen. Mucus created by the appendix travels through the appendiceal lumen and empties into the large intestine.

Study: Middle-aged men are more likely to die after surgery than women

Middle-aged men are around 50% more likely to die after surgery than middle-aged women, according to new research being presented at Euroanaesthesia, the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), held online this year.

20 Dec 2021

Non-surgical approach can be a routine treatment option for uncomplicated appendicitis cases

With numerous recent studies demonstrating that antibiotics work as well as surgery for most uncomplicated appendicitis cases, the non-surgical approach can now be considered a routine option, according to a review article in JAMA.

14 Dec 2021

Patients get stranded out of network as insurer-hospital contract talks fall apart

In September, when Shelly Azzopardi went to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with abdominal pain, she didn't worry about her insurance.

17 Nov 2021

Appendicitis can be diagnosed using low-does CT scans

A new paper in the British Journal of Surgery, published by Oxford University Press, indicates it's now possible to diagnose appendicitis using low-does CT scans, decreasing the radiation exposure, which is of significant clinical importance especially in young patients.

11 Nov 2021

How does a surgeon’s language affect patient risk perception?

In this interview, we speak to Dr. Joshua E. Rosen about his latest research into treatment options and what role a surgeon’s language plays in people's perception of its risks.

4 Nov 2021

CODA trial: Antibiotics now accepted as first-line treatment for people with appendicitis

Antibiotics are now an accepted first-line treatment for most people with appendicitis, according to final results of the Comparing Outcomes of antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) trial, and an updated treatment guideline for appendicitis from the American College of Surgeons.

25 Oct 2021

Scientists search for cause of mysterious covid-related inflammation in children

Like most other kids with covid, Dante and Michael DeMaino seemed to have no serious symptoms.

20 Oct 2021

Large study of COVID vaccine side effects in Sweden

Recently, researchers from Sweden reported population-based, age- and sex-specific background incidence rates of conditions that represent potential COVID-19 vaccine adverse events of special interest (AESI) in the general Swedish population with the help of registered data. This study is published on the medRxiv* preprint server.

6 Oct 2021

Child deaths from surgical conditions found to be too high in Sub-Saharan Africa

Child deaths from surgical conditions such as birth defects are too high in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with high-income countries because of a lack of focus on surgical diseases in children in the region, a study finds.

28 Sep 2021

Researchers find no serious health effects linked to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Federal and Kaiser Permanente researchers combing the health records of 6.2 million patients found no serious health effects that could be linked to the 2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

4 Sep 2021

Newly discovered cell type makes survivors of sepsis more vulnerable to infections

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in Brazil's intensive care units (ICUs). Among patients who progress to the severe form of the disease, 40% die, and the survivors often suffer from cardiovascular and neurological complications, as well as a significant decline in immunity lasting for years after they are discharged from hospital.

2 Sep 2021

Large Israeli study offers detailed look at safety profile of mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

A deep look into a nationwide mass vaccination setting in Israel revealed that the BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) vaccine is not linked with an elevated risk of a majority of the adverse events under study, with the exception of myocarditis. However, even that potentially severe adverse event is much more pervasive following the infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), found a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

30 Aug 2021

Study examines safety of COVID-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass-vaccination setting

The Clalit Research Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, analyzed one of the world's largest integrated health record databases to examine the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2 vaccine against COVID-19.

27 Aug 2021

Telemedicine is a tool — not a replacement for your doctor’s touch

Earlier in the pandemic it was vital to see doctors over platforms like Zoom or FaceTime when in-person appointments posed risks of coronavirus exposure. Insurers were forced — often for the first time — to reimburse for all sorts of virtual medical visits and generally at the same price as in-person consultations.

6 May 2021

From rotten teeth to advanced cancer, patients feel the effects of treatment delays

With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against Covid-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments.

20 Apr 2021

Study compares antibiotic-only treatment versus surgery for acute uncomplicated appendicitis

An RCSI study conducted in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has found that surgery, rather than antibiotics-only, should remain as the mainstay of treatment for acute uncomplicated appendicitis.

15 Mar 2021

New report addresses the recovery of surgical services in post-pandemic

In 2013, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) established the GlobalSurg Collaborative, a network that has since grown to include more than 5,000 practicing surgeons from all corners of the planet.

21 Dec 2020

Study shows impact of the pandemic on lung cancer screening

When the pandemic hit the U.S. in early 2020, many routine activities came to a halt.

17 Dec 2020

COVID-19 may be linked to acute appendicitis in children

Researchers at the University of Virginia have recently presented a case series pointing to a potential association between infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the development of acute appendicitis in children.

8 Dec 2020

Study shows critically ill patients are not seeking care for fear of COVID-19 infection

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in New England, emergency department visits for medical emergencies - including psychiatric problems, trauma and heart attacks - declined by nearly a third, raising concerns among clinicians that critically ill patients were not seeking the care they needed for fear of coronavirus infection.

1 Dec 2020