Talk:Peritonitis

Famous people who died of peritonitis

Perhaps there should be a section on famous people who died of peritonitis? Like Harry Houdini.

There is a section now. I removed the comment "he did not seek medical help" because back in this period of time there was no penicillin , surgery had high death rate and going to a doctor was no guarantee of being helped, so the decision not to seek medical help ( source needed) if true , was a reasonable one.--Mark v1.0 (talk) 17:43, 16 May 2014 (UTC) Not to mention Anesthesia. "In 1923 a “famous” London hospital had 42 chloroform fatalities in 8 weeks". And the different blood types was just discovered/documented in 1930.http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1930/ --Mark v1.0 (talk) 18:02, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Tubercular Peritonitis

Does someone have information on how tubercular peritonitis infection occurs? There is no mention in the article. I am researching a female ancestor who died at age 23 years of this disease in the late 19th Century and I would like some more information.210.50.60.56 03:04, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I now have the answer to this question, thanks to someone who replied on the talk page for the miliary tuberculosis article. My next question is, how common was it for tuberculosis to cause fatal peritonitis in the nineteenth century? My ancestor was quite young (23) and lived in a western nation under quite good conditions for that time (upper middle class.) 210.50.56.58 21:45, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

It is difficult to assess how common a certain particular localisation of TB was in the 19th century, as obviously statistical data are lacking, and current medical textbooks are concerned with current data. However, I would say that among the various possible life-threatening manifestations of TB, peritonitis is and has always been pretty unlikely. --Nehwyn 10:23, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick answer. Much appreciated. 20:36, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

How Long Until Death?

I know that someone with peritonitis must seek immediate medical treatment as it is an emergency but I am curious as to how long a person would survive untreated. Would they last days or mere hours after onset? How quickly do people generally deteriorate? Thanks. 210.50.56.72 09:35, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

It depends. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and obviously its original cause and the underlying conditions of the affected person also contribute to the chances of survival. On average? I'd say from a few hours in the more debilitated patients, to a few days (of hellish suffering) in the healthier ones. --Nehwyn 10:20, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for answering this one, too. Cheers. 210.50.60.38 20:36, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Just a few further thoughts regarding this ancestor... The reason I asked about how long it would take to die is that she apparently passed away on a Sunday night. This is all purely speculative but perhaps it was difficult to obtain a doctor at that time in those days (in a small colonial city) if onset of the condition was sudden. If she already had underlying TB, then I presume her immune system would have been greatly weakened by that disease so she would not nave lasted long with the peritonitis. Could a doctor have even done much in that era (1897) had he been present?

I have very little medical knowledge but I imagine she would have been suffering from TB for some time before it spread to the appendix area. Would it be accurate to presume that she would have been suffering from TB of the lungs for years before it suddenly spread to the appendix via miliary infection and that she probably died within hours of the peritonitis based on the little information known? If it is rare for TB to cause peritonitis, I guess she must have just been very unlucky or had other underlying issues we are unaware of. I would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this. 211.26.1.26 21:24, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

I've no idea about the availability of doctors in 1897 in your area, but consider that she would have needed not just a doctor, but a surgical operation to stand a chance. Also, a couple of your remarks seem to be off-track: you mention the appendix, but she had peritonitis, not appendicitis. Second, you seem to think that TB "greatly weakens" the immune system, and that's not the case (that's what HIV does), and that for that reason she whould not have lasted long with peritonitis (that's not really relevant: once you get peritonitis, it's not the strength of your immune system that can give you a chance). Her immune system probably was weakened, because a weak immune system is what allows the microrganism to spread so that localised TB becomes miliary (i.e. disseminated) TB, but that immunocompromise must have come from something else. Indeed, people get miliary TB in one of two ways: 1) their immune system is already weak, and at first contact with Mycobacterium tuberculosis the microrganism immediately disseminates; 2) their immune system is normal, and at first contact the microrganism is contained in a localised form (usually in the lungs), but years later for some other reason the immune system becomes weak so that the microrganism is able to escape containment and disseminate. I'm guessing we don't know which of these two was the case for your ancestor, but in both cases, the reason for her immunocompromise must have been some other intercurrent condition. (The most common of which, old age, seems not to be the case.) Hope I'm making sense to you here. --Nehwyn 11:39, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed reply. No, I don't have much medical knowledge, do I?  :-) I actually thought in the back of my mind that appendicitis and peritonitis were related. I will read the article in more detail. When I said "weakened the immune system", I was thinking more in terms of her being in a weakened state in general if she was already battling TB. I know that HIV is a virus that specifically attacks the immune system, so my wording was rather poor there. Thinking about it, I realise you are correct as the immune system, used for fighting off viruses or bacteria, wouldn't be relevant to a condition like peritonitis.

Thanks for explaining how miliary TB develops in people. Yes, you are making sense to me and it has increased my understanding. Cheers. 202.138.16.33 21:18, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, appendicitis and peritonitis are related in that the former is one of the possible causes of the latter, but in this case we know her peritonitis originated from a different problem. --Nehwyn 09:21, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

By the way, since you seem interested, the city in question was Hobart in Tasmania. Although one of the more remote parts of the British Empire, by 1897, it was definitely a small but well established port city and the arrival of convicts from England had ceased. Most of the trade at that time would have been centred around agricultural and whaling. I am sure there would have been more than one competent doctor or surgeon around. Also, the deceased lived only a few blocks from the city CBD. I guess the fact that this happened on Sunday night just led to me speculating that help may possibly have been hard to contact. The telephone had been developed by then but it is probably unlikely for a private residence to have one at that stage. I really don't know enough about living conditions in the city at that time, though. 202.138.16.33 21:42, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

I see. Now that's a rather removed corner of the Empire! Well, investigating family history always leads to interestings bits. Should you have any more medical questions, feel free to drop a line at my talk page. --Nehwyn 09:21, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the kind offer and all of the information you have provided. Much appreciated. Cheers, David. 210.50.56.24 10:31, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Just to tie up a loose end in this discussion, modern treatment involves surgery and antibiotics. Immediate access to world-class medical care available in 1897 probably would not have saved this lady. --Una Smith (talk) 16:41, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that info, Una. Cheers, David. 202.138.16.93 (talk) 09:49, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Merger_proposal

I made the templates. figured Fecal Peritonitis had very little to add and so should be merged here. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:51, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Fatality

Sentence from article "If untreated, generalised peritonitis is almost always fatal". Almost always? There were documented cases of self recovery? 91.77.247.134 (talk) 20:26, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Why does "perimetritis" redirect here?

Not mentioned in article. 109.157.79.50 (talk) 00:37, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

diagram illustrations needed

It would be helpful if there were some image illustration and diagrams. TonyMorris68 (talk) 23:08, 27 May 2017 (UTC)