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
Review
. 2025 Jun;95(6):1091-1095.
doi: 10.1111/ans.70157. Epub 2025 May 15.

The Place of Appendicectomy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease-A Review

Krishanth Naidu  1   2   3 , Pearl Wong  1   3 , Pierre H Chapuis  1   2   3 , Matthew J F X Rickard  1   2   3 , Kheng-Seong Ng  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

The Place of Appendicectomy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease-A Review

Krishanth Naidu et al. ANZ J Surg. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

The aetiology and pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are not completely understood; however, a dysregulated intestinal immune system appears key to its pathogenesis. It has been suggested that the appendix is central to nurturing the enteric mucosal system due to its production of lymphoid products and that an appendicectomy may have an immune modulating effect. The aim of this review is to explore the available evidence for the association between IBD and appendicectomy and attempt to define its impact on the incidence and risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) onset and progression.

Keywords: Crohn's disease; appendicectomy; inflammatory bowel disease; ulcerative colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Jaffe B. M. and Berger D. H., “The Appendix,” in Schwartz's Principles of Surgery, 8th ed., ed. Schwartz S. I. B. C. (McGraw‐Hill Companies, 2005).
    1. Buschard K. and Kjaeldgaard A., “Investigation and Analysis of the Position, Fixation, Length and Embryology of the Vermiform Appendix,” Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica 139, no. 3 (1973): 293–298. - PubMed
    1. Chung W. S., Chung S., Hsu C. Y., and Lin C. L., “Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Following Appendectomy in Adulthood,” Frontiers in Medicine 8 (2021): 661752. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guinane C. M., Tadrous A., Fouhy F., et al., “Microbial Composition of Human Appendices From Patients Following Appendectomy,” MBio 4, no. 1 (2013): e00366‐12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mulder D. J., Noble A. J., Justinich C. J., and Duffin J. M., “A Tale of Two Diseases: The History of Inflammatory Bowel Disease,” Journal of Crohn's & Colitis 8, no. 5 (2014): 341–348. - PubMed

MeSH terms