PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS

Course overview

PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS CAN DESCRIBE ANY CONDITION MIMICKING APPENDICITIS, A DISEASE WHICH CLASSICALLY PRESENTS WITH ACUTE RIGHT LOWER QUADRANT ABDOMINAL PAIN WITH ANOREXIA AND TENDERNESS AT MCBURNEY'S POINT. THE MORE SPECIFIC DEFINITION OF PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH YERSINIA ENTEROCOLITICA INFECTIONS SUCH AS THE INFLAMMATORY INTESTINAL CONDITION KNOWN AS YERSINIOSIS. MOST CASES OF Y. ENTEROCOLITICA, HOWEVER, ARE ASYMPTOMATIC AND SELF-LIMITING. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS THE EVALUATION, TREATMENT, AND COMPLICATIONS OF PSEUDOAPPENDICITIS AND SUMMARIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF AN INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM APPROACH TO ITS MANAGEMENT.