Appendicitis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Appendicitis - Case Study Example Appendicitis causes a series of symptoms in a patient, out of which the primary symptom is an acute radiating pain that extends from the naval towards the right side of the lower abdomen. This severity of the pain may worsen when the patient coughs or makes some sharp movements. The other symptoms are vomiting accompanied with high fever. The abdomen gets bloated and sometimes constipation or  diarrhoea  may occur (Karriem-Norwood, 2014). Patient with the above symptoms must get immediate medical attention as appendicitis when not treated in a timely manner may be fatal. When the lumen (inner wall of the appendix) gets obstructed, inflammation of the appendix occurs. This obstruction may occur due to some bacterial infection, cancer, or faecal matter. As a result, the appendix gets filled with puss cells that swell and create pressure within the inner wall of the appendix. This pressure may cause blood clot within the blood vessels and make the lymphatic vessels which carry lymph to the heart becomes inactive (â€Å"Appendicitis,† 2014). The symptoms of appendicitis may be misleading because other diseases like urinary infection, gall bladder infection, intestinal infection, gastritis and gynaecological problems may also result in extremely similar signs and symptoms of appendicitis (Marks, 2014). Careful and timely diagnosis is very important. Thorough investigation of patient history and physical examination may sort out the problem. The doctor may physically examine the patient by applying gentle pressure on the painful region of the abdomen which will worsen the pain as a sign of infection in the peritoneum (tissue that builds the inner wall of the abdomen and supports most of the organs in the abdomen) (â€Å"Diseases and Conditions – Appendicitis,† 2014). Blood test may be taken to examine the level of White Blood Corpuscles (WBC) in the blood. Whenever there is an infection in any part of the human body, the WBC in the blood multiplies