Appendicitis Following Blunt Abdominal Trauma: An Illustrative Case.

Acute appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency, with an average of 7-9% of individuals developing the condition within their lifetime.1 While cases of acute traumatic appendicitis are rare, medical literature supports their plausibility with the most famous case stretching back to the controversial 1926 death of stunt performer, Harry Houdini. Several mechanisms have been proposed by which blunt abdominal trauma results in acute appendicitis. In this review, we describe a young, otherwise healthy male, who developed epigastric abdominal pain after being struck in the abdomen while wrestling with his cousin of similar age. The patient was found to have peri-appendiceal inflammatory change, appendiceal mural thickening and edema consistent with acute uncomplicated appendicitis.