BloodshotPizzaBox t1_jdhwv4s wrote
When the appendix gets surgically removed, it's typically because it's in the process of dying and trying to take the patient out with it. So its usefulness has already ended at that point.
There are cases of appendicitis that are treatable with antibiotics, but in general it tends to come on too quickly and severely for that.
DahliaHC t1_jdilehv wrote
Fair enough.
What are the impacts to one's health living without an appendix, though?
PyrrhoTheSkeptic t1_jdiwox7 wrote
It appears that the rate of infection is slightly higher for people without an appendix, but for most people without an appendix, there is no noticeable difference in quality of life.
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>So what does this mean for people who have had their appendix removed? Luckily, not much. “In general, people who have had an appendectomy tend to be relatively healthy and not have any major detrimental effects,” Smith says. (She herself had hers out at age 12.)
Some studies have shown, however, that people without an appendix may have slightly higher rates of infection than those with a functioning organ. “It may also take them slightly longer to recover from illness, especially those in which the beneficial gut bacteria has been flushed out of the body,” Smith added.
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https://time.com/4631305/appendicitis-appendix-gut-bacteria/
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Most people who have their appendix removed don't have problems.
Since appendectomies have been going on for a long time, with many thousands done every years, the evidence is pretty solid that it is generally not a serious problem to have it removed.
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>About 327,000 appendectomies were performed during U.S. hospital stays in 2011, a rate of 10.5 procedures per 10,000 population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendectomy
With that rate of the surgery, there are millions of people without an appendix, and most of them have no discernible problems from it. So this is not something one should be particularly worried about.
Most people who have their appendix removed don't miss it at all.
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