Appendiceal cancer: the differential diagnosis of a clinical case

Abstract

The primary appendiceal cancer is one of the rarest malignancies. Its counts for 0.5% of all colon cancer and does not exceed few bips in all surgically removed appendices. The disease does not have specific signs. It can imitate acute appendicitis, its complications, or a disease of uterine appendages. The appendiceal cancer is commonly diagnosed during pathomorphological investigation after surgery. A clinical case of a 58-yearold female patient with a tumor of the appendix is presented in the paper. Initially the tumor was thought to be an appendicular infiltrate. During the patient's second hospitalization a differential diagnosis between a uterine appendages tumor and appendicular mucocele was performed. The histological examination identified mucosal adenocarcinoma (G1) of the appendix with invasion into the ileum wall. With the full range of radiation diagnostics that provides additional information to clinical assessment and laboratory work-up it is challenging even for practicians to diagnose the disease. Despite the rare frequency of appendiceal cancer, it should be included into the list for differential diagnosis. The paper presents the basics of the differential diagnosis with special emphasis on the awareness of this disease. The knowledge of specifics of its pre-operative diagnosis could be useful to practitioners.

Keywords

• appendiceal cancer
• appendicular infiltration
• ovarian cancer