PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS

Course overview

PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS CAN DESCRIBE ANY CONDITION MIMICKING ACUTE APPENDICITIS. PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS CLASSICALLY PRESENTS WITH ANOREXIA, ACUTE RIGHT LOWER QUADRANT ABDOMINAL PAIN, AND TENDERNESS OVER MCBURNEY POINT. PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS IS MOST COMMONLY DUE TO ACUTE YERSINIOSIS CAUSED BY YERSINIA ENTEROCOLITICA INFECTING THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT. WHILE MOST CASES OF ACUTE YERSINIOSIS ARE SELF-LIMITED, THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE YERSINIOSIS SO CLOSELY RESEMBLE THAT OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS THAT PATIENTS MAY UNDERGO NEGATIVE APPENDECTOMY. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS THE EVALUATION, TREATMENT, AND COMPLICATIONS OF PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS AND SUMMARIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF AN INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM APPROACH TO MANAGING THIS INCREASINGLY COMMON DISEASE PROCESS.