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Case Reports
. 2022;46(1):114.
doi: 10.1186/s42269-022-00798-w. Epub 2022 Apr 21.

Appendicitis and COVID: cause or effect?

Abdus Salam Raju  1 , Aditya Thomas Benjamin  1 , Tristan Rutland  2   3 , Luke Liu  1 , Paul Lambrakis  1   4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Appendicitis and COVID: cause or effect?

Abdus Salam Raju et al. Bull Natl Res Cent. 2022.

Abstract

Background: Vasculitis and phlebitis with vascular occlusion within appendix specimen is rare. Several authors have reported COVID-19 related veno-occlusive disease in hepatic pathology, but lymphoid aggregation with phlebitis is unusual in appendix specimen. We present a case with medium size venule phlebitis in an appendix of a patient recovered from COVID-19 infection.

Case presentation: A 27-year-old who recently recovered from COVID-19 infection 12 weeks prior, presented with acute appendicitis, confirmed on computed tomography and operative findings. He underwent an uneventful laparoscopic appendicectomy. Histopathology showed veno-occlusive vasculitis within the appendix specimen.

Conclusions: Veno-occlusive disease within the appendix is uncommon. Emerging data suggest COVID-19 infection can cause systemic vascular complications. We herein report a case of healthy patient with no past medical history with an unusual findings of medium vessels phlebitis within the appendix post COVID-19 infection.

Keywords: Appendicitis; COVID-19 infection; Veno-occlusive disease; Veno-occlusive vasculitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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