The ‘great unknowns’ in management of appendicitis in children.

Abstract

Acute appendicitis is the commonest surgical emergency in children. The lifetime risk of developing appendicitis is 7-8% with a peak incidence in the early teenage years. As such over 10,000 children in the United Kingdom alone develop appendicitis annually. Given the abundance of cases and the frequency with which surgeons and other clinicians encounter children with appendicitis one might think that we know with certainty how to best to assess and treat young people suspected of having this condition.