Appendicitis in the pediatric age group.

A retrospective analysis of 35 patients aged 2 to 20 years who were seen at the District of Columbia General Hospital and Howard University Hospital over a three-year period (1984 to 1986) was performed. All patients were operated on with a preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis. A normal appendix was found in 17 percent of patients, of which the majority was adolescent girls. Of those patients with acute appendicitis, 41 percent had perforated appendices, and one half of these were judged to be complicated.At diagnosis or at reoperation, one half of the patients were maintained on single-antibiotic therapy, the other half were maintained on triple-antibiotic therapy. The average hospital stay was 26.6 days, with no significant difference between those patients on single- or triple-antibiotic coverage. The average hospital stay for patients with uncomplicated appendicitis was six days.