The Challenge of Diagnosing Childrens Appendicitis
The word appendicitis is a fairly common word. In fact, you would hear people say every now and then, My stomach keeps hurting. I wonder if I have appendicitis. The usual response to this by anyone listening would be, Where does it hurt? If its in the right lower abdomen, it must be appendicitis.
Diagnosing Appendicitis Generally
If
only its that easy to diagnose the condition. In actual truth,
diagnosing appendicitis has always been a little bit tricky. Many
physicians are facing lawsuits after they opened up a patient and found
no trace of abnormal appendix.
It is very difficult to really
diagnose a clear case of appendicitis because the symptoms of the
disease are often unspecific – vague, if you may say so. Rarely do
symptoms of this disease generate visible manifestations. Physicians
would often require additional laboratory tests in order to back up
their diagnosis. They’d recommend a series of lab tests including
blood analysis, magnetic resonance imaging or MRI, computerized
tomography or CT and ultrasound tests.
Now, if diagnosing
appendicitis is difficult with adults, it is almost impossible when it
comes to children. Diagnosing appendicitis in children is certainly a
huge task for physicians.
Diagnosing Appendicitis in Children
Chronic appendicitis
can occur in any age. Toddlers as young as 2 years old may have
appendicitis. Rarely does it happen though that infants have
appendicitis. Children suffering from this disease find it difficult
to cope with the painful symptoms. Sadly, by the time they present to
physicians, they already exhibit various complications.
Oftentimes, appendicitis in children
comes with different clinical manifestations. Although children
experience the characteristic symptoms of appendicitis which includes
acute abdominal pain and discomfort, vomiting, nausea and fatigue, they
also experience other uncharacteristic symptoms that are apparently
common in appendicitis in children. These symptoms include
irritability and loss of appetite. They also experience intense
sweating, high fever and chills. These latter symptoms are largely
because of the bacterial infections in the appendix. You can say that appendicitis signs in children have exacerbated symptoms.