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Adenocarcinoma of the Appendix Is Rarely Detected by Colonoscopy

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Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery Aims and scope

Abstract

Introduction

Appendiceal tumors represent a subset of colonic neoplasms that frequently defy early diagnosis only to present at advanced stage with peritoneal metastasis. Data on early detection by colonoscopy is limited to case reports or series. The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic yield of colonoscopy in detecting appendiceal lesions in patients with appendiceal adenocarcinoma and pseudomyxoma peritonei.

Methods

We reviewed clinicopathologic data on 121 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed appendiceal adenocarcinoma with pseudomyxoma peritonei presenting to our institution for intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy (IPHC) and cytoreductive surgery between February, 1993 and August, 2007, focusing on the colonoscopy findings.

Results

Preoperative colonoscopic data were available on 64 patients (average age = 51; 52 for IPHC patients). Abnormal findings included seven patients with appendiceal lesions (11%), 12 patients with cecal abnormalities (19%), and 28 patients with polyps (44%). Twenty-three patients (36%) had a normal colonoscopy. Malignancy was documented in two of the 64 (3.1%) patients on preoperative colonoscopy biopsies.

Conclusions

Appendiceal abnormalities are infrequently seen on colonoscopy and rarely yield a diagnostic biopsy in patients with appendiceal carcinoma. We found that nearly 42% of patients with carcinoma of the appendix have synchronous colonic polyps, a much higher prevalence than would be expected, supporting a role for a perioperative colonoscopy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Gastroenterology, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Apurva N. Trivedi & Girish Mishra

  2. Department of General Surgery, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Edward A. Levine

Authors
  1. Apurva N. Trivedi
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  2. Edward A. Levine
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  3. Girish Mishra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Girish Mishra.

Additional information

This work was previously presented in poster form at the Surgical Society of the Alimentary Tract Washington, DC 2007.

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Trivedi, A.N., Levine, E.A. & Mishra, G. Adenocarcinoma of the Appendix Is Rarely Detected by Colonoscopy. J Gastrointest Surg 13, 668–675 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-008-0774-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-008-0774-6

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