Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Andre Hebra often treats patients with appendicitis. It’s caused by some sort of blockage. “Once that is obstructed, it becomes infected and creates a lot of pain and fever and discomfort. And usually very quickly like within 24 hours if the appendix is not removed, it will progress to what’s called a ruptured appendicitis.”

The number one symptom is severe pain in the lower right abdomen. “If the appendix is not yet ruptured, the operation is relatively simple to remove the appendix, and once the appendix removed the children that don’t have a ruptured appendicitis will recover very quickly,” said Dr. Hebra.

If the appendix has ruptured, Dr. Hebra can still remove it minimally invasively. “Which means tiny little incisions, very quick surgery, very quick recovery. However, if the appendix has already ruptured, some of these children to be quite sick, can be at risk for septic shock and severe systemic infection. They need the support of a pediatric critical care team, a pediatric anesthesia team for a safe recovery from surgery.”

Often these patients need additional interventions. “For drainage of an abscess, other problems they develop because of the ruptured appendicitis and for that you need a pediatric interventional radiologist who can manage that. Here at the hospital, we have all that available for people who only take care of children and provide that high level of care,” said Dr. Hebra. Golisano offers Lee County’s only pediatric emergency department. It’s open 24/7 365.


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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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