Purulent Appendicular Peritonitis in Pregnancy: Management and Pregnancy Outcome

Abstract

Appendicitis represents the most common cause of acute abdomen in pregnancy, accounting for 25% of non-obstetric surgery in pregnant women, with an incidence between 0.06% and 0.28% [1,2]. Forty per cent of cases takes place on the second trimester [3]. Diagnosis of appendicitis during pregnancy remains challenging, for the low sensitivity of ultrasound (US) and low predict value of typical symptoms, due to the change of appendix location and to the physiological mild leukocytosis [4-7]. Therefore, complications occur more frequently during pregnancy than in non-pregnant women [8].