title: Left Sided Appendicitis: Once Burned Twice Shy.
abstract: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical conditions that are diagnosed in children presenting with acute abdominal pain in the emergency department. An atypical presentation of symptoms is encountered in 30% of cases. Atypical localization of the appendix as in left sided appendicitis, although rare, has an increased risk of missed or delayed diagnosis. We present two consecutive cases of left sided appendicitis in order to describe how increased awareness in the second case helped us to avoid pitfalls in the management and diagnosis of this atypical and variant condition. Increased cautiousness and awareness of left sided appendicitis can assist emergency physicians to avoid pitfalls in the management and diagnosis of this atypical and variant condition.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Surgeon, 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, "Aristotle" University Medical School, "G. Gennimatas" General and University Hospital , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaselas
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Surgeon, 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, "Aristotle" University Medical School, "G. Gennimatas" General and University Hospital , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Spyridakis
authors.affiliation: Medical Student, 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, "Aristotle" University Medical School, "G. Gennimatas" General and University Hospital , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Patoulias
authors.affiliation: Resident in training, 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, "Aristotle" University Medical School, "G. Gennimatas" General and University Hospital , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Paschalis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tsioulas
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Surgeon, 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, "Aristotle" University Medical School, "G. Gennimatas" General and University Hospital , Thessaloniki, Greece .
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Patoulias
keywords: Abdominal pain; Appendectomy; Misdiagnosis