What is appendicitis?
Appendicitis is an acute or sometimes chronic, progressing disease of the abdominal cavity caused by infection or blockage of the appendix – the appendix of the caecum. Appendicitis may develop at any age, but most often it occurs in adolescents and young people. Most of surgeries on the abdominal organs are just about appendicitis.
The appendix is a vestigial organ, its function is unknown, it has a form of a long, narrow, wormlike tube closed at the end and connected to the cecum – the lower part of the bottom section of the large intestine. Its diameter is about 1.2 cm and the length ranges from 3.8 to 20 cm. Appendix may be differently situated, so appendicitis is easy to confuse with almost any disease of the abdominal cavity.
