Appendicitis Pregnancy
Appendicitis is a common problem in pregnant women, and many pregnant women develop appendicitis due to their ignorance in visiting physician regularly. Pregnant women experience some anatomic and psychological changes which make the diagnosis of appendicitis very complicated. This delayed diagnosis of the appendicitis in pregnancy has increased the chances of fetal loss and morbidity of fetus.
Diagnosis of Appendicitis in pregnancy
The diagnosis of appendicitis during pregnancy becomes difficult because the symptoms of appendicitis are similar to the pregnancy symptoms. For instance, nausea, vomiting and anorexia are common in both the cases of pregnancy and appendicitis during pregnancy. Pregnant woman's uterus causes some changes in the location of appendix, which makes the diagnosis more complicated.
Physical examination and medical history of the patient is very helpful in diagnosing the appendicitis in pregnancy. Generally, pregnant women with appendicitis experience the symptoms like quadrant pains in upper and lower parts, vomiting and nausea. Abdominal tenderness is the most common symptoms that help to determine the existence of the appendicitis.
Ultrasonography can be used in the early stage of the pregnancy to diagnose the appendicitis. When the pregnancy symptoms develop to the extent and the appendix is displaced, the reliability of ultrasonography goes down. If the appendicitis in pregnancy is remained undiagnosed, it can result into the death consequences.
Treating the Appendicitis in Pregnancy
A mother with appendicitis is recommended laparoscopic appendectomy combined with antibiotics to prevent any further serious consequences to the mother and the infant inside her womb. However, the laparoscopic appendectomy is very helpful in treating the appendicitis, but its use of carbon and the intra-abdominal pressure have raised some complication about its success. Most of the cases show that the second trimester of pregnancy is the safe period to perform laparoscopy for appendicitis.
Many doctors believe that appendectomy causes the low weight birth of infants and the deaths of infants within a week after the birth. Hence, the risk of death and serious damage to the infants is the major problem in the appendectomy surgery.
As of now, doctors prefer to remove the appendicitis once it is diagnosed and avoid any further complications. It is studied that about 35% of the pregnant cases have removed the normal appendicitis during the operation. It is also proved that there is no relation between the appendix perforation and the appendectomy surgery. However, the appendicitis can causes severe labors in the abdomen. The surgery doesn't have any risk of infection to the appendix or any affect on the fertility of a woman.
