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Case Reports
. 2021 Apr 9:14:233-236.
doi: 10.2147/IMCRJ.S309192. eCollection 2021.

Appendiceal Agenesis: A Very Rare Intraoperative Diagnosis - A Case Report

Binyam Yohannes  1 , Kirubel Abebe  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Appendiceal Agenesis: A Very Rare Intraoperative Diagnosis - A Case Report

Binyam Yohannes et al. Int Med Case Rep J. .

Abstract

Background: Appendiceal agenesis is a rare intraoperative diagnosis which occurs in 0.001% of laparotomies done for presumed acute appendicitis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of appendiceal agenesis in our country and the second in Africa.

Case presentation: A 19 year old Ethiopian female student came with clinical and imaging findings of acute appendicitis. No history of previous abdominal surgery and similar illness. The vermiform appendix could not be identified following laparotomy performed for the assumption of acute appendicitis. The surgical exploration also revealed no cause for the abdominal pain. Then appendiceal agenesis was declared with an additional diagnosis of nonspecific abdominal pain (NSAD). The postoperative follow-up was uneventful.

Conclusion: Appendiceal agenesis is a rare malformation which demands a careful examination and meticulous laparotomic/laparoscopic exploration for diagnosis.

Keywords: Ethiopia; acute appendicitis; appendiceal agenesis; appendiceal anomalies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An intraoperative view of the ileocecal and retrocecal regions (A and B) showing the cecum (dark arrow), the distal ileum (white arrow) and the site where the taenia coli converge (red arrow) with absent appendix.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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