Appendicitis as a cause of small bowel obstruction in pediatric age group

Intestinal obstruction is a common surgical emergency in children caused by varied conditions. Although bowel paralysis accompanying acute appendicitis is well known, obstruction of large or small intestine caused by appendicitis is extremely rare with very few cases reported in literature. The diagnosis of such a condition is possible only on table. Every emergency surgeon needs to be aware of such a possibility. We report a case of a 6-year-old male presenting with classical features of intestinal obstruction for 4 days with no history and clinical finding suggestive of an episode of appendicitis. On laparotomy small bowel obstruction was seen and appendix was found to be the cause. We reviewed literature to find similar cases reported in the past.