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Acute Appendicitis

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Emergency General Surgery

Abstract

The treatment of acute appendicitis, one of the most common acute surgical conditions in the United States, has gone through significant changes and still has several areas of controversy. The diagnostic approach heavily relies on imaging. A negative ultrasound cannot rule out appendicitis and should be followed by CT scan. The use of antibiotics alone as the primary treatment modality for uncomplicated appendicitis has gained popularity, but although the evidence suggests it is a safe alternative to appendectomy, it is associated with significant failure rates. Patients presenting with a right lower quadrant phlegmon or abscess are better treated with nonoperative management, as immediate surgical treatment is associated with increased morbidity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA

    Brittany Bankhead-Kendall & Pedro G. R. Teixeira

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  1. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall
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  2. Pedro G. R. Teixeira
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Correspondence to Pedro G. R. Teixeira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Carlos V. R. Brown

  2. Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Kenji Inaba

  3. Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Matthew J. Martin

  4. Brigham and Womens’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ali Salim

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Bankhead-Kendall, B., Teixeira, P.G.R. (2019). Acute Appendicitis. In: Brown, C., Inaba, K., Martin, M., Salim, A. (eds) Emergency General Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96286-3_21

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