Appendicitis, an unusual cause of acute abdomen in neonatal patients. A case report

Abstract

Appendicitis is the most frequent surgical disease in childhood, but it is very uncommon in the neonatal period. In this period of life, a delay in diagnosis (frequently due to the rareness of this pathology and lack of clinical suspicion) and consequently in therapeutic approach, frequently results in appendicular perforation and a subsequently poor evolution of this pathology.

We present the case of a neonate with a history of Down’s syndrome and Fallot’s tetralogy. Due to her basal cardiopathy, she required surgical intervention to create a systemic-pulmonary fistula, as a temporary bridge until definitive cardiac surgery could be performed. In the postoperative period of this surgery she presented fever, acute abdomen and abdominal radiography compatible with pneumoperitoneum. An emergency laparotomy was performed, which revealed peritonitis secondary to a cecal gangrenous appendix with perforation in its middle third.

Neonatal appendicitis is usually associated with diseases such as cystic fibrosis, necrotizing enterocolitis, or Hirschsprung’s disease, as in the case of our patient. In neonates with acute abdomen and presence of pneumoperitoneum, appendicitis must be part of the differential diagnosis and requires urgent surgical intervention. Despite this, it presents a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Once the definitive diagnosis is made, any basal pathology that justifies its presence should be discarded.