Perforated appendicitis: current experience in a Childrens Hospital.

A review of 89 consecutive cases of perforated appendicitis recently treated surgically at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles revealed no mortality and a complication rate of 17%. Significant factors in this low morbidity are: adequate preoperative resuscitation, routine administration of broad spectrum antibiotics pre and postoperatively, and attention to surgical detail. Anaerobic organisms were invariably present in cultures of the peritoneal fluid taken at operation. Anaerobes were also present in the blood in all 5 patients having positive blood cultures and were frequently pathogens whenever postoperative infectious complications occurred. The use of antibiotics effective against anaerobic organisms was common in this series and produced no morbidity.