“Does appendicitis pain require surgery?”

Acute appendicitis requires surgery

Please visit ER for proper work up and evaluation by Pediatric Surgery.

If she is having pain from her appendix, it should be evaluated ASAP to see how big the appendix is and if the pain is actually from the appendix. The risk is that the appendix could rupture causing an infection in her abdomen.

All appendicitis cases require treatment - some surgical, some medical only with antibiotics.It is not just for the pain, but for the infection around the appendix.

If your daughter has appendicitis pain she has appendicitis (the only way to know is via imaging either and ultrasound or CT scan). If the diagnosis is confirmed the standard of care is an appendectomy, preferably laparoscopic which is the standard of care or open. There are some protocols where we are testing using just antibiotics for appendicitis - the patient is admitted to the hospital, made NPO (nothing to eat) on IV antibiotics, and if no improvement within first 24 hours then transitioned over to operative management; otherwise if pain is decreasing and clinically improving - there diet is advanced after 24 hours and they are discharged to home after total of 7 days of antibiotics.
However, if you have a diagnosis, appendectomy is one of the most common operations a general surgeon performs and if not perforated I send the patient home same day after the operation.