Is Air Travel Safe For A Person With Acute Appendicitis?

Posted on Sat, 18 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 18 Jun 2016 Answered on

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I am in Italy with my 16 yr old son. We fly home to California today. He has been seen by doctors in Italy and they have been treating him for an acute appendicitis. He's been on antibiotics for 9 days. Is it safe for me to fly him home?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
If he has no symptoms it is safe to fly home.

Detailed Answer:
Hello.

Thank you for the query.

Appendicitis can be treated with an antibiotic but in some cases surgery must be done. If he has no pain, no fever, nausea, vomiting, his heart rate is below 100, you can assume that the antibiotic treatment is effective. In such case it is safe for him to fly home.
Otherwise, surgery should be considered.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar