The operation is generally performed after diagnosis of acute appendicitis, a painful inflammation of the appendix. The appendix is removed under general anesthesia, usually through a small incision in the lower, right-hand side of the abdomen. With acute appendicitis, the appendix may burst, and there is the slight risk that the operation itself may cause it to do so.
Recovery is rapid.
The patient is able to leave the hospital within one to two days, and the stitches are removed after about five days. Convalescence may take about a month or more while the various layers of tissue in the abdominal wall heal. Today the success rate of an appendectomy is nearly 100 percent.