Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about appendicitis. And as always you can find written notes on this topic at

zero to finals.com or in the general surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix.

The peak incidence of appendicitis is in patients aged 10 to 20 years old.

And it can occur at any age, but it's less common in young children and adults over the age of 50.

Let's talk a bit about the path of physiology.

The appendix is a small tube that arises from the seacum, which is part of the large bowel.

It is located at the point where the three tiniacoli meet.

The tiniacoli are longitudinal muscles that run the length of the large

intestine. There is a single opening to the appendix that connects it to the bowel and this leads to a

dead end in the appendix. Pathogens can get trapped due to obstruction at the point where the

appendix meets the bowel. Trapping of pathogens leads to infection and inflammation.

The inflammation may proceed to gangrene and rupture of the appendix.

When the appendix ruptures, fecal contents and infective material are released into the peritoneal cavity,

and this leads to peritonitis, which is inflammation of the peritoneal cavity, and this leads to peritonitis,

which is inflammation of the peritoneal lining.

Let's talk about the signs and symptoms.

The key presenting feature of appendicitis is abdominal pain.

This typically starts as central abdominal pain that moves down to the right iliac fossa, or r-i-fif,

within the first 24 hours, eventually becoming localized in the right iliac fossa.

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