Appendiceal Mucocele Spontaneously Drained into the Cecum: Report of a Case

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• appendix
• neoplasms
• mucocele
• cecum
• general surgery