Appendicitis is a painful medical condition caused by a swollen appendix. To keep the appendix from bursting, doctors often perform surgery to remove the appendix of patients who have appendicitis.
People suffering from appendicitis often end up in the emergency room, because it causes so much pain. The pain of appendicitis usually starts near the belly button and spreads throughout the lower right part of the abdomen as the appendix becomes more swollen and inflamed. Appendicitis was first identified and named in the 1880s, from the Latin root appendix, "something attached," which describes the way your appendix is attached to your intestine.