What to do with chronic appendicitis

The onset of chronic appendicitis is closely related to factors such as environment, diet, living habits, and infection. Its symptoms are similar to many gastrointestinal diseases, with characteristics such as poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and mild fever. The harm of chronic appendicitis is continuous, which has a great impact on the patient's health and life. Treatment is the most concerning thing. So, what should we do about chronic appendicitis? Let’s take a look below.

1. Non-surgical treatment

When acute appendicitis is in the early simple inflammatory stage, once the inflammation is absorbed and subsides, the appendix can return to normal and will not recur. Therefore, the appendix does not need to be removed. Non-surgical treatment can be used to promote the early disappearance of appendicitis inflammation.

When the diagnosis of acute appendicitis is clear and there are surgical indications, but the patient's physical condition or objective conditions do not allow it, non-surgical treatment can be adopted first to delay surgery. If acute appendicitis is combined with localized peritonitis and an inflammatory mass is formed, non-surgical treatment should also be used to allow the inflammatory mass to be absorbed before considering elective appendectomy.

If the inflammatory mass turns into an abscess, it should be incised and drained first, followed by elective appendectomy. When the diagnosis of acute appendicitis has not been confirmed and needs to be observed, non-surgical treatment can be used while observing the changes in the condition.

In addition, non-surgical treatment can also serve as preparation before surgery, so non-surgical treatment is very important. Non-surgical treatments also include:

(1) General treatment

The main treatments include bed rest, fasting, intravenous infusion of water, electrolytes, and calories, etc.

(2) Antibiotic Application

The use of antibiotics in non-surgical treatment is very important. The selection and dosage should be determined according to the specific circumstances. Most cases of appendicitis are mixed infections. In the past, penicillin and streptomycin were used together with satisfactory results. Later, it was found that the number of drug-resistant strains increased and the infection rate of anaerobic bacteria increased. Then the "Golden Triple" was used, namely ampicillin (ampicillin), gentamicin and metronidazole. It has a wide antibacterial coverage, is not expensive, and is highly praised. In recent years, new and highly effective antibiotics have emerged, and cephalosporins are constantly being updated. Therefore, cephalosporins or other new β-lactam antibiotics are often used in combination with metronidazole.