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An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedure to treat complicated acute appendicitis. [1]
Ileum, caecum and colon of rabbit, showing Appendix vermiformis on fully functional caecum The human vermiform appendix on the vestigial caecum. The appendix was once believed to be a vestige of a redundant organ that in ancestral species had digestive functions, much as it still does in extant species in which intestinal flora hydrolyze cellulose and similar indigestible plant materials. [10]
In humans, the vermiform appendix is sometimes called a vestigial structure as it has lost much of its ancestral digestive function.. Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. [1]
The human appendix averages 9 cm (3.5 in) in length, ranging from 5 to 35 cm (2.0 to 13.8 in). The diameter of the appendix is 6 mm (0.24 in), and more than 6 mm (0.24 in) is considered a thickened or inflamed appendix.
The mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), also called mucosa-associated lymphatic tissue, is a diffuse system of small concentrations of lymphoid tissue found in various submucosal membrane sites of the body, such as the gastrointestinal tract, nasopharynx, thyroid, breast, lung, salivary glands, eye, and skin.
Amyand's hernia is a rare form of an inguinal hernia (less than 1% of inguinal hernias) [2] which occurs when the appendix is included in the hernial sac and becomes incarcerated. The condition is an eponymous disease named after a French surgeon , Claudius Amyand (1660–1740), [ 3 ] who performed the first successful appendectomy in 1735.
Location of McBurney's point (1), located two-thirds the distance from the umbilicus (2) to the right anterior superior iliac spine (3) The presentation of acute appendicitis includes acute abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever. As the appendix becomes more swollen and inflamed, it begins to irritate the adjoining abdominal wall.
[1] [2] It descends behind the termination of the ileum and enters the mesoappendix of the vermiform appendix. It runs near the free margin of the mesoappendix and ends in branches which supply the appendix. Micrograph of entry point of appendicular arteries (arrows at level of inner muscular layer), not to be confused with a perforation.