The Pan African Medical Journal (Dec 2020)

Deciduosis of the appendix: a rare cause of acute abdomen during pregnancy: a case report

  • Louis Smits,
  • Mieke Van Bockstal,
  • Julie Frezin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.316.26728
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 37, no. 316

Abstract

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Appendectomy is the most common non-obstetric surgical intervention in pregnant patients. In rare cases, deciduosis can develop during pregnancy in the appendix and cause inflammation through appendiceal occlusion by ectopic decidua tissue. We report a 28-year-old woman at 32 weeks of pregnancy, who presented at the emergency room with the diagnosis of an acute appendicitis. After successful appendectomy and histopathological examination of the appendectomy specimen, a diagnosis of appendiceal deciduosis with acute appendicitis was established. Here, we discuss the origin of appendiceal deciduosis, as well as its clinical and histopathological presentation.

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