What is the presumed cause of appendicitis in adults or children?
- Intestinal concretions around fecal matter, or fecaliths (in adults) or hypertrophied lymphoid tissue causing obstruction of the lumen (in children), are the dominant etiologic factors.
- Fecaliths are found in approximately 90% of cases of gangrenous, ruptured appendicitis.
- The luminal obstruction causes distention of the appendix from both continued mucosal secretion and local bacterial overgrowth.
- Ultimately, venous pressure is exceeded and areas of wall infarction with bacterial invasion occur.
