Surgery For The Appendix

Appendix Surgery or Appendectomy involves the removal of appendix after the occurrence of appendicitis. Let’s find out about when you need an appendix surgery, what the procedure involves, and where to get best surgeons for appendectomy.

Why do People Get an Appendix Surgery?

Appendicitis is a serious medical condition that requires an appendix surgery. It occurs due to the infection in the appendix because of growing bacteria or clogging of the stool in the appendix. The infection causes inflammation and severe pain that is only treatable with the removal of the appendix. In the case of an accident or serious injury that causes the trauma and appendicitis, appendectomy is the only surgical option available. Peritonitis is a serious condition resulting from the inflammation of the appendix and can cause the appendix to rupture.

Procedure for Appendix Surgery

First, the surgeon will administer the patient with certain antibiotics to prevent the overgrowth of bacteria. The dose of antibiotics will depend upon the degree of the damage. In the case of sepsis, the patient would have a single dose of injectable antibiotic. If the appendix has ruptured already, the surgery will start without administering the antibiotics.

The patient will undergo general anesthesia before the surgery. For the surgery, there are two common methods; open surgery and laparoscopic surgery.

Open Surgery for the Appendix Removal

The surgeon will sterilize the skin with a germ-killing solution first. In rare cases, the surgeons do need to shave the skin in the appendix area. The surgeon will then cut the skin deeply (2-3 inches) to open the portion of lower abdomen to expose the appendix.  If there is some mass growing on the appendix, the surgeon will make incisions on the mass as well.

Beneath the skin, the surgeon will make incision through the layer of protective tissues and abdominal walls to reach the appendix. Once the surgeon identifies the location of the appendix, he/she will carefully cut the appendix and remove it out of the patient’s body. After that, the surgeon will stitch the peritoneum layer, which he/she had previously ruptured for the removal of the appendix. The surgeon will stitch the skin of the lower abdomen.

Minimal Invasive Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is the recent trend in surgical procedures, which involves cutting certain a part of an organ or removing if entirely. This process involves making three small incisions (of ¼ or ½ inches) to expose and remove the appendix instead of opening a larger portion of the stomach or lower abdomen. This surgery also uses a small camera or laparoscope, which is a mini tv-like monitor to show the appendix and the surgery procedure in an enlarged view. To remove the appendix laparoscopically, our surgeons have special instruments that can easily perform the surgery without any deep incisions.

Advantages of Laparoscopic Appendectomy

Laparoscopic appendectomy has several benefits over the open surgery appendectomy.

• The surgeon will make only a few stitches on the patient’s body. This means the post-operative pain significantly reduces in this procedure as compared to an open surgery.
• The recovery is also quicker.
• The patient achieves the normal functioning of the bowel quickly.
• The hospital stay is lesser for laparoscopic surgery.
• Laparoscopic surgery gives better cosmetic results. The stitch marks do not look horrible.

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Are you having problems with your appendix? Call us at 212-988-1136 to book an appointment. We have NYC’s best surgeons for laparoscopic appendix surgery. For more information visit our main website.