Medicinski vjesnik, Vol. 22 No. (4), 1990.
Review article
Acute appendicitis in pregnancy
Milan Ilić
Ivo Mlinarić
Đuro Vlašić
Nikola Strčić
Abstract
In pregnancy, appendicitis is the most common disease with clinical signs of the acute abdomen. It usually occurs during the first six months of pregnancy, i.e. 35 % of the cases in the first, 34 % in the second and 27 % in the third trimester of pregnancy. Only in 1.2 % of the cases does it occur during labour and in 2.3 % in the puerperium. In the last five years, 39 pregnant women were admitted to Bjelovar Maternity Hospital due to suspected acute appendicitis. Of them, 12 were transferred to the Department of Surgery, where six of them underwent an appendectomy. The diagnostic problem of acute appendicitis in pregnancy lies in anatomical and physiological changes of some organs involved, which seriously complicates the diagnostic procedure and the decision to operate. High lethality and morbidity, resulting from the perforation of appendix in pregnant women, impose a question of a more liberal indication for surgery, on the principle of »better frequently than late«.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
196284
URI
Publication date:
1.12.1990.
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