The congenital pericolic membrane syndrome, often misnamed chronic appendicitis

Conclusions

1. The symptom-complex of many cases of so-called “chronic appendicitis” has long been suspected of being a mixed syndrome, whose symptomatology is not always relieved by simple appendicectomy.

2. The signs and symptoms of a syndrome produced by congenital pericolic membranes, is presented with the hope that it may aid in clarifying some of the obscure symptoms often found associated with chronic right abdominal symptomatology.

3. The “congenital-pericolic-membrane-syndrome” may explain some of the cases of unrelieved right-sided upper and lower abdominal chronic symptomatology attributed to low grade infections in the gall bladder and appendix but not relieved by the removal of the gall bladder or appendix, or both.

4. The relationship between physical exercise and activity and the subsequent symptomatology produced presents an important factor in the diagnostic syndrome of congenital pericolic membranes producing local and systemic symptoms.

5. Roentgen-ray findings frequently are misleading when the technique commonly used to detect organic infiltrative or neoplastic lesions of the colon has been employed. A method is suggested which uses a compressible contrast-medium, air, rather than the heavy, liquid non-compressible medium so diagnostically effective in other types of colon pathology.