Appendicitis at 40 days After Birth
Adriana Echavarría Medina*, Ana Maria Ospina Zuleta and Shaday Valeria Valdes Sanchez
Introduction: Acute sepsis due to abdominal emergencies are rare in the neonatal population. However in Latin American countries, complications such as perforation and sepsis are generally the initial presentation that physicians encounter in the emergency department. In addition, it represents a significant diagnostic challenge because the clinical presentation is analogous with other surgical conditions, such as necrotising enterocolitis. We present a clinical case of an infant of chronological age corresponding to 36 days, with a medical background that includes a history of preterm caesarean, with symptoms of a late-onset young infant sepsis of abdominal origin. Diagnostic tools like abdominal X-ray and ultrasound were performed, which revealed free fluid in the right iliac fossa and pneumatosis, the patient was scheduled for an emergency exploratory abdominal laparotomy, the evidence indicated perforated acute appendicitis with localized peritonitis, without necrotizing enterocolitis or intestinal necrosis. The patient was discharged having made adequate weight gain and showing signs of recovery from the initial condition.
