Introduction:

Acute appendicitis in children under three years of age is not frequent.

Material and methods:

To know the characteristics of patients with acute appendicitis in children under three years of age. An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in a second level general hospital.

Results:

During five years (January 2013 to December 2017), seven appendectomies were performed in children under three years of age; the common signs and symptoms were: tachycardia seven, whining five, nausea four, fever four, vomiting three. The averages were: age two years, clinical picture of four days, leukocytosis of 14000/μl, neutrophils 25%, 52 lymphocytes/μl and six days of stay. Macroscopic classification: three not perforated, two perforated and one with peritonitis. Mortality. A case associated with Hirsprung’s disease.

Conclusions:

In this study we found that tachycardia is a cardinal sign in pediatric patients with acute appendicitis. In the same way, general surgeons can take care of this group of patients when there is no viable alternative and the emergency is inevitable.