Appendicitis during the first month of life.

Abstract

A PPENDICITIS during the first month of life is rare.1-37 Fields and associateP3 reported 5,354 operations for acute appendicitis for the years 1942 to 1952 at the Los Angeles County Hospital. Thirty-eight of the patients were under 3 years of age, and only 1 was under 1 month of age. Other large series reported by Nassan*? (465 cases), Abel1 (1,165 cases), Deavep (777 cases), Hudson16 (848 cases), McLaughlin*l (300 cases), Meaghep3 (405 cases), PenberthyZs (1,653 cases), Scott33 (506 cases), and Snyder35 (1,051 cases) did not include any patients under 1 month of age. Inasmuch as’only 19 cases have been reported to date (Aug. 15, 1959)) the occurrence of 5 within a 7-year period in one geographic area seemed worthy of notation. The diagnosis was unsuspected in each instance, and the mortality rate was 100 per cent. It was believed that details of the clinical findings in our patients, as well as those reported in the literature, may be helpful in the recognition of this disorder in the young infant.