[Appendicitis in the premature newborn]

OBJECTIVE: To present a case of acute appendicitis in a premature infant. METHODS: Retrospective review of the literature using Medline and Lilacs databases, as well as the necropsy report. CLINICAL REPORT: A white male preterm infant born at 34 weeks of gestation weighing 1,750g to a primiparous mother. The Apgar score was 4 and 8 at 1st and 5th minutes, respectively. The physical exam was normal until the 9th day of life when the child developed clinical features suggestive of acute abdomen, possibly due to necrotizing enterocolitis with perforation. He was submitted to exploratory laparotomy, which leaded to the diagnostic of acute appendicitis. CONCLUSION: Acute appendicitis must be discarded on the differential diagnostic when there is a suspicion of necrotizing enterocolitis with perforation, and risk factors are not present.