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.

Measles re-emerging globally

Measles is a common childhood illness but can cause more than a passing fever with rash. It could turn out to be a complicated and severe illness, warn doctors in a new paper published in February 2020 in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

17 Feb 2020

Children with suspected appendicitis need better care, finds study

A new study published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health reports that suspected appendicitis in children is not only among the most common pediatric conditions but often wrongly treated. The researchers found that literally, hundreds of children in the UK were having their appendices taken out unnecessarily.

13 Feb 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Fact-checking president Trump’s State of the Union

President Donald Trump had a lot to say about health care in his State of the Union address Tuesday night — not all of it completely accurate.

6 Feb 2020

Study: Young women in UK are subjected to unnecessary surgery for suspected appendicitis

Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging.

4 Dec 2019

Study finds worrisome increase in medical imaging during pregnancy

Use of medical imaging during pregnancy increased significantly in the United States, a new study has found, with nearly a four-fold rise over the last two decades in the number of women undergoing computed tomography CT scans, which expose mothers and fetuses to radiation. Pregnant women are warned to minimize radiation exposure.

1 Aug 2019

Rutgers study: Depression increases hospital use and mortality in children

Children with depression admitted to the hospital for other illnesses like pneumonia, appendicitis or seizure disorders, stay longer, pay more and are at greater risk of death, a Rutgers New Jersey Medical School study finds.

2 May 2019

Novel drug shows potential to prevent sepsis progression

Research into a new breakthrough therapy in the fight against sepsis has shown that the drug has potential to stop all sepsis-causing bacteria from triggering organ damage in the early stages of the condition.

8 Mar 2019

Surgery is very safe for uncomplicated appendicitis, study shows

Researchers found that more than 97 percent of the surgeries for appendicitis were laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, and most patients were discharged the same day or the next day. Only 3 percent of the procedures resulted in complications.

26 Feb 2019

Researchers develop electroencephalography-based test to objectively measure pain

If you've ever visited the emergency department with appendicitis, or you're one of the 100 million U.S. adults who suffer from chronic pain, you're familiar with a row of numbered faces, with expressions from smiling to grimacing, used to indicate pain levels.

6 Nov 2018

The appendix may be associated with Parkinson’s disease

The vermiform appendix or appendix as we commonly know it, is a vestigial organ of the body which does not come into notice unless it is inflamed (such as in appendicitis). In cases of appendicitis, the finger like part of the gut at the base of the caecum is surgically removed.

1 Nov 2018

Alnylam announces positive results from Phase 3 Study of givosiran for treating acute hepatic porphyria

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today positive topline results from the interim analysis of the ENVISION Phase 3 Study of givosiran, an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting aminolevulinic acid synthase 1 for the treatment of acute hepatic porphyria.

27 Sep 2018

Children with allergies have lower risk of developing complicated appendicitis

Children with allergies have a lower risk of developing complicated appendicitis, according to a new study from Lund University and Skåne University Hospital in Sweden.

7 Aug 2018

Abdominal pain should be seen as a warning sign for invasive meningococcal disease

Patients with meningococcal infection generally develop symptoms including a high temperature, vomiting and a stiff neck... but they might also just have a bad stomach ache. This can be so severe that they are sometimes wrongly operated for appendicitis.

26 Apr 2018

A tale of two CT scanners — one richer, one poorer

Benjamin Hynden, a financial adviser in Fort Myers, Fla., hadn’t been feeling well for a few weeks last fall. He’d had pain and discomfort in his abdomen.

9 Apr 2018

Condom snorting - a trending bad idea!

What is condom snorting? A bad idea to say the least! Youngsters these days are uncoiling a condom and snorting it up one nostril and inhaling right into their throats from where they are hawking it out of their mouths. This apparently is a dare that young people are falling for!

2 Apr 2018

Colonoscopy linked to increased risk of appendicitis

Although the incidence of appendicitis in the United States has been in decline for many years, the condition still affects approximately seven percent of Americans annually.

27 Jan 2018

Medicaid expansion related to better access to surgery and higher quality of care

The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion was linked to better access to surgery and higher quality surgical care, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

24 Jan 2018

Reducing use of 'low value' surgical procedures vital to cut healthcare costs and enhance care

Reducing the use of 'low value' interventions that deliver little benefit is vital to cut healthcare costs. In the BJS, investigators have identified 71 low value general surgical procedures, of which five services were of high volume and high cost, 23 were of high cost and low volume, 22 belonged to the low cost and high volume group, and 21 were in the low cost and low volume group.

8 Nov 2017

Child with abdominal pain more likely to receive CT scan in general ED, study finds

A child with non-traumatic abdominal pain, a common symptom of appendicitis, is more likely to receive a computed tomography (CT) scan in a general emergency department (ED) than if he or she visited a pediatric emergency department, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

15 Sep 2017

Study finds outpatient laparoscopic appendectomy to be safe, viable in public county hospital

Laparoscopic surgical procedures have many benefits over traditional open operations, like decreased length of stay at the hospital, less postoperative pain for patients, and earlier resumption of an oral diet.

19 Apr 2017