Ruptured Appendicitis

Dear Ask The Doctor: Is there a new treatment for ruptured appendicitis that does not require a drain to be placed in the incision? The doctor instead places a probe in the incision and the pulls it slightly apart to drain any infection?

Dear Timothy:It seems you developed a wound infection after surgery. Treatment of wound infections involve evacuation of any dead tissue and administration of appropriate antibiotics. In some case of a ruptured appendix, there is a collection of pus within the abdominal cavity that has the potential to recollect after surgery. In such cases a a drain is placed in that cavity and attached to a collection device outside the body. It seems you did not require such a drain. Therefore, simply removing the infected tissue from the wound along with administration of antibiotics is all that is required in your case.