Where is the appendix of a person and what function does it perform?

The appendix, otherwise a vermiform appendage, is a hollow, blindly closed tube that originates from the dome of the cecum.

As a rule, the length of the shoot varies about 8 centimeters. There were cases when the appendix was very short or absent altogether. The location of the process is very, very diverse. From where the appendix is located in a person and exactly how it is located relative to the rest of the organs, the clinic of all diseases associated with it depends.

For many years, there was an opinion in medicine that the appendix is completely superfluous and does not perform any significant functions for the body. Moreover, the inflammation of the appendix - appendicitis - both by itself and through complications, often threatened the lives of patients.

In many countries, attempts have been made to remove the outgrowth at an early age in order to prevent the development of possible pathological processes in the future. Over the years, independent researchers have drawn attention to the fact that in children with small marks in the form of a postoperative scar in the place where the appendix is located in a person, there are more often a slowdown in growth and development, reduced resistance to infections, and digestive disorders.

So why do you need an appendix? Based on the latest findings, the appendix is primarily needed in infancy and in the first few years of life, after which the function gradually decreases. Nevertheless, subsequently throughout the entire human life the appendix is a barrier to any infection of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, the lymphoid tissue of the appendage plays an important role in the fight against cancer.

Do not forget about the E. coli - the most important component of the intestinal microflora, without the work of which it becomes impossible to absorb certain nutrients and vitamins.

Due to malnutrition, frequent infectious processes, the normal operation of the appendix is impaired. It is difficult to evacuate the contents, blockage occurs, overstretch of the walls, blood supply worsens. All of these are signs of an inflammation of the appendix, an appendicitis. In the place where the appendix is located in a person, namely in the lower right part of the abdomen (McBurney point), there is discomfort, cutting or pulling pain, which subsides when lying on the right side. Often such pains are preceded by pains in the upper abdomen in the middle, which after a while migrate to the point of McBurney.

Classical symptoms can be supplemented or replaced by more rare ones. It all depends on where the appendix is located in the person with respect to the caecum. There are descending, subhepatic, forward, backward, external, internal, intraorganic and even left-sided arrangement.

Treatment is most often surgical. At the present stage, the operation is performed laparoscopically, in other words, through small punctures in the anterior abdominal wall.

Summarizing, it can be said that the appendix performs an important role in the body, the removal of this process is a forced measure in the already developed inflammatory process in order to avoid the appearance of complications.