ABSTRACT
The importance of the vermiform appendix in surgery results primarily from its propensity for inflammation, which results in the clinical syndrome known as acute appendicitis. Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of an ‘acute abdomen’ in young adults and, as such, the associated symptoms and signs have become a paradigm for clinical teaching. Appendicitis is sufficiently common that appendicectomy (termed appendectomy in North America) is the most frequently performed urgent abdominal operation and is often the first major procedure performed by a surgeon in training. Advances in modern radiographic imaging have improved diagnostic accuracy; however, the diagnosis of appendicitis remains essentially clinical, requiring a mixture of observation, clinical acumen and surgical science and as such it remains an enigmatic challenge and a reminder of the art of surgical diagnosis. Although much more uncommon, the appendix also has a propensity to the formation of tumours which, despite humble and innocuous beginnings, may disseminate widely with dramatic clinical consequences
