Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Jun 5;101(6):585-587.

A "fruitful" cause of acute appendicitis

Mona Mlika  1 , Imen Ben Ismail  2 , Ayoub Zoghlami  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

A "fruitful" cause of acute appendicitis

Mona Mlika et al. Tunis Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is a common health problem mainly due to a lumen obstruction. The obstruction is mainly due to fecal material, lymphoid hyperplasia or parasites. Foreign bodies and especially seeds have been rarely reported as causes of acute appendicitis and account for less than 1% of the different causes.

Case report: The authors described a rare case of acute appendicitis caused by seed and causing diagnostic challenge with the most frequent parasites observed in the appendix lumen. Different arguments were gathered to rule out enterobius vermicularis, taenia species, ascaris infection or schistosomiasis.

Conclusion: Seed-caused-appendicitis has to be known and identified by pathologists in order to avoid the diagnosis of parasites infection which may induce an overuse of antibiotics after the appendectomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Figure 1. a/ Appendiceal lumen filled with a seed characterized by a tick coat (arrow) and an endosperm (double arrow) (Hematoxylin Eosin x100). The appendiceal wall presented a lymphoid hyperplasia (star), b/ Higher magnification of the seed within the appendix (Hematoxylin Eosin x250), c/ Details of the thick coat and the endosperm (Hematoxylin Eosin x400)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pogorelić Z, Čohadžić T. A Bizarre Cause of Acute Appendicitis in a Pediatric Patient: An Ingested Tooth. Children. 2023;10 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Issin G, Demir F, Simsek HA, Cagatay DV, Tayfur M, Kandemir A, et al. Seeds or Parasites? Clinical and Histopathological Features of Seeds and Parasites in the Appendix. Turk Patoloji Derg. 2023;39:42–54. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Campora M, Trambaiolo Antonelli C, Grillo F, Bragoni A, Cornara L, Migliora P, et al. Seeds in the appendix: a ‘fruitful’ exploration. Histopathology. 2017;71:322–325. - PubMed
    1. Haak F, Kollmar O, Ioannidis A, Slotta JE, Ghadimi MB, Glass T, et al. Predicting complicated appendicitis based on clinical findings: the role of Alvarado and Appendicitis Inflammatory Response scores. Langenbecks Arch Surg. 2022;407:2051–2057. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sar S, Mahawar KK, Marsh R, Small PK. Recurrent appendicitis following successful conservative management of an appendicular mass in association with a foreign body: A case report. Cases J. 2009;2 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types