To date, the frequency of visits to doctors complaining of problems with the gastrointestinal tract is only increasing. One of the most common diseases is inflammation and rupture of appendicitis. It is especially dangerous when this happens, but there is no timely surgical intervention. In such cases, everything can be fatal.
What is going on in the body?
The inflammatory process lasts about 3 days, during which catarrhal and purulent (sometimes gangrenous) changes occur. If no operation is performed during this time, a break occurs.
The main symptom is the feeling that something inside has spread out, warmth is felt in the abdomen. The most severe consequence is diffuse peritonitis, which can be fatal.
From a similar problem, a person is not safe at any age.
In what situations can a gap occur?
The main reason for the appearance of a rupture of appendicitis is a structural feature of the patient’s gastrointestinal tract, for example, the presence of an inflection of the process.
Other reasons include:
- closing with fecal masses and / or stones of the process of the cecum;
- getting into the appendix of a foreign body;
- bacterial infections;
- malignant and benign neoplasms;
- mechanical and other abdominal injuries.
Not in the last place is improper nutrition, due to which poisonous and harmful substances accumulate in the appendix.
Symptomatology
At the initial stage of the development of the disease, pain appears in the navel, which slowly passes into the lower abdomen on the right side.
Other symptoms of rupture of appendicitis include:
- increase in body temperature (up to 40 degrees);
- nausea, often turning into vomiting;
- feeling of chills;
- diarrhea, false urge to defecate;
- feeling trembling in the limbs.
Pain may appear in the lumbar region. Abdominal pains intensify, then disappear. This happens against the background of the fact that temporarily the nerve endings are paralyzed. Most likely, symptoms of intoxication will be pronounced.
Diagnostic measures
Despite the fact that the signs of rupture of appendicitis are always quite pronounced, in any case they can be symptoms of another disease. First of all, a blood test is carried out, which will show the number of leukocytes, their increase speaks in favor of the fact that there are problems with the appendix.
Diagnostic measures are designed to exclude the likelihood of gastritis, pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, bowel obstruction and a number of other pathologies.
Features of symptoms and diagnosis in women
In addition to common symptoms, in women, pain can be given to the left side. They intensify with laughter or coughing.
A characteristic symptom of rupture of appendicitis in women bearing a fetus is a very severe shortness of breath. At such moments, the main thing - pain from appendicitis is not to be confused with labor pains. Hardening of the abdomen can also be observed, due to the fact that its walls are overstressed.
For women, a lack of appetite during this period is also characteristic. Often there is general weakness. As a rule, symptoms appear in the late afternoon and progress with the onset of night.
After the fourth month of pregnancy, the diagnosis of rupture of appendicitis presents a certain problem. During this period, the uterus increases in size, the appendix shifts closer to the liver. Therefore, it is very difficult to distinguish inflammation of the biliary tract from appendicitis. An effective diagnostic technique is ultrasound or MRI, in extreme cases, radiography.
Features of diagnosis in children
It is enough to simply confuse the symptoms of poisoning and inflammation of appendicitis, especially if we are talking about a child under the age of 3 years. He is not yet able to clearly explain what he has and where it hurts. By the way, appendicitis is the fourth in the list of incorrectly established diagnoses in childhood. Symptoms in a child and an adult are the same. And the gap in almost 50% of cases occurs due to untimely diagnosis. As a rule, the disease is best diagnosed by ultrasound, with this method there are only 5% of errors.
According to statistics, in the postoperative period in 5% of cases in children intestinal obstruction occurs. These abscesses are also disappointing, it is observed in 15-20% of babies.
In light of this, never ignore your child’s deviations from normal behavior. Especially if he complains of pain in the abdomen during the day, and he has diarrhea. The child has lost his appetite, can’t run and jump because of pain, doesn’t even want to walk? All these symptoms can confirm the presence of an inflammatory process in the appendix, so they can not be ignored.
You can independently conduct diagnostics at home before an ambulance arrives. The child is placed on his back, and he must bend his legs at the knees. After that, you should press your finger on the abdomen on the right side and quickly release. If the pain intensified, then it is almost 100% that these are problems with the appendix.
First aid
How much appendicitis can hurt before rupture? For about 1-3 days. You can diagnose appendix inflammation within 10-12 hours of the onset of an attack. If at this moment no measures are taken, then after a day or two its walls are torn, after which the entire contents are released into the abdominal cavity.
When the first signs appear, immediately call an ambulance and limit the patient's mobility. You can’t eat at this moment, you can only use clean water in a small amount. In no case should you take medications and warm the area of the appendix. In extreme cases, you can make a cold compress. With this pathology, no folk remedies will help, only surgical intervention is an effective solution to the problem and eliminating the risk of complications.
A timely surgical operation is the key to a decent quality of life in the future.
Possible consequences
Rupture of appendicitis can lead to two types of complications. The most harmless is the appearance of abscesses (abscesses) near the appendix and in the nearest tissues.
The worst outcome is inflammation of the abdominal cavity (peritonitis), followed by sepsis and death. Peritonitis causes a number of diseases that lead to the death of the patient. It can be pylephlebitis, that is, inflammation of the hepatic vein. The disease is very transient.
Peritonitis can also cause meningitis. In this case, the bacteria enter the bloodstream, instantly spread throughout the body and form metastatic foci. In addition to the brain, microbes can enter the outer membrane of the heart muscle, then endocarditis appears. The penetration of bacteria into bone tissue leads to the appearance of osteomyelitis.
The occurrence of thrombophlebitis or appendicular infiltrate, that is, soldering of tissues in the colon or small intestine, is not excluded.
Treatment for appendicitis rupture
What are the methods for treating this pathology? There are two methods that surgeons use:
- Open method. Surgery lasts for 60 minutes. An incision is made from 4 to 15 centimeters, and the process is removed.
- Laparoscopic technique. In this case, four small incisions are made, a camera is inserted through one, and tools through the other three.
Depending on the degree of damage to the abdominal cavity, pus removal and drainage can be performed.
Rehabilitation period
After the rupture of appendicitis has occurred and a surgical operation has been carried out, it is allowed to resume motor activity only on the second day. You will have to follow a strict diet, which allows the use of kefir, a rosehip drink and tea.
In the next five days, mashed soups and potatoes, cereals are gradually introduced, during which time the motility of the stomach should be completely restored. If there are no complications, then after this time you can return to your normal diet.
Along with the diet, the patient will need to take antibacterial and painkillers. Detoxification therapy is also performed. In the period from the 4th to the 6th day from the moment of the operation, the stitches are removed.
Failure to follow the recommended postoperative rules may result in inguinal hernia or adhesive disease.