Appendiceal mucocele spontaneously drained into the cecum: Report of a case

Istanbul Medical Journal , cilt.21, ss.222-224, 2020 (ESCI İndekslerine Giren Dergi)

We aimed to present a case of appendiceal mucocele who

was admitted with abdominal pain, operated under elective

conditions and found to have been spontaneously drained from

the root of the appendix to the colon in surgical exploration.

A 41-year-old male patient was admitted to the emergency

department with abdominal pain. In clinical examination;

tenderness, rebound and defense in the lower right quadrant

of abdomen and leucocytosis were detected. Computerized

tomography scan showed the appearance of a cystic dilated

appendix. After resolution of the physical examination findings

based on the antibiotic treatment, we decided to perform

elective surgery. In surgical exploration, ileocecal resection was

performed by determining the mucocele of the appendix that

had been spontaneously drained from the root of the appendix

into the cecum lumen. On the sixth day after the operation,

he was discharged without complications. Histopathological

examination revealed high-grade appendiceal mucinous

neoplasia. Our patient’s follow-up in the first year after the

surgery revealed no recurrence. The patient is disease-free

at the end of his first postoperative year. The mucocele of

the appendix is a cystic neoplasia containing mucin and its

perforation during surgery may result in the development of

pseudomyxoma peritonei in the late period. In our case, the

fact that the lesion was spontaneously drained into the lumen

of the colon reduced the risk of the mucocele rupturing and

spreading into the abdomen during surgery.