Treatment / What you should do if your child has appendicitis
The majority of children with abdominal pain do not have appendicitis, but if your child has symptoms that are suggestive of appendicitis, he or she should be seen by a doctor.
In order to help make the diagnosis, the doctor may order some tests, including blood tests and x-rays, although no test can diagnose appendicitis with complete accuracy. Sometimes, the diagnosis will remain uncertain and doctor will choose to admit the child to the hospital for observation.
You should not give pain medications to a child with abdominal pain before speaking with or having a doctor examine the child. Pain medication can disguise the child's symptoms and may allow the illness to develop further before being diagnosed.
If the child has appendicitis, surgery is necessary to remove the infected appendix. This is called an appendectomy. The appendix can be removed through traditional surgery, which involves a long incision into the abdomen, or using laparoscopic surgery, a less invasive technique that uses small instruments and a video camera inserted through several very tiny incisions.
In addition to surgery, the child will often need intravenous fluids, pain relief medication, and perhaps antibiotics. A child with uncomplicated appendicitis usually will go home from the hospital within 2-3 days. Longer stays are necessary when the appendix has burst open.
Prevention of appendicitis
It is impossible to prevent appendicitis.
