Overview

The appendix is a small, finger-shaped organ. It is attached to your large bowel in the lower right side of your tummy.

Appendicitis is when your appendix has become swollen, infected, or burst open. Appendicitis can be difficult to diagnose.

The standard treatment for suspected appendicitis is to have surgery to remove your appendix. This is called an appendicectomy.

You have the surgery under general anaesthetic. This means that you are asleep and do not feel any pain. You either have:

• keyhole surgery which uses small cuts and a camera for the procedure
• open surgery which is traditional surgery using a larger, open cut in the skin

Risks

As with any surgery, there are some risks. They include: 

• finding that the appendix is normal or that something else is causing your symptoms
• bleeding and bruising 
• infection in the wound, tummy or chest

There are other risks that are very rare, including:

• injury to other organs or structures
• hernias (weakness in the surrounding muscle)
• a reaction to anaesthetic medicines
• not being able to empty the bladder completely (urinary retention), which requires a temporary catheter (a tube to empty pee into a bag)
• bloated bowels (ileus)
• blood clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) or chest (pulmonary embolism)

Other treatment options

If your diagnosis of appendicitis is uncertain, you might need to repeat the assessments and wait to see what happens. We might do scans to help us with the diagnosis. 

It might be possible to treat you with a course of antibiotics instead of surgery. Sometimes you might still need surgery later. 

For some people, a lump might have formed around the appendix. This is called an appendix mass. The surgeon might recommend delaying surgery for a few weeks, and treat you with antibiotics at first.

Sometimes, we can put in a small drain tube for a few days to remove any infection or pus (a thick, yellowish liquid or discharge). We do this under local anaesthetic. This means that you are awake, but the area being treated is numb and you do not feel any pain.

After treatment for an appendix mass, we see you at a clinic in a few weeks and plan what to do next. 

Giving your permission (consent)

We want to involve you in decisions about your care and treatment. If you decide to have surgery, we ask you to sign a consent form. This says that you understand what the treatment involves and agree to have it. 

If you would like more information about our consent process, please speak to a member of staff caring for you.