Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Appendix

Takahisa Hirokawa¹⁾³⁾, Minoru Yamamoto¹⁾⁴⁾, Masaki Sakamoto¹⁾, Hirozumi Sawai¹⁾, Hiromitsu Takeyama¹⁾, Tadao Manabe¹⁾⁴⁾ and Satoru Takahashi²⁾

Department of Gastroenterological Surgery¹⁾ and Department of Experimental Pathology and Tumor Biology²⁾, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences
National Cancer Center Hospital³⁾
Department of Surgery, Kariya Toyota General Hospital⁴⁾

Colorectal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT) are rare, and most commonly occur in the lung. We report a case of IMT of the appendix, involving a malignant tumor in the differential diagnosis based on the speed of tumor growth. A 58-year-old man admitted for alcoholic cirrhosis had a growing tumor palpable in the lower right quadrant. Enhanced abdominal CT showed a slightly contrasted mass around the cecum. No tumor was found by colonoscopy without external compression. Barium enema findings indicated diverticuli of the ascending colon and deformation of the cecum, suggesting an inflammatory tumor whose malignancy could not be excluded, necessitating so laparoscopy-assisted ileocecal resection. The postoperative pathological diagnosis was IMT.

Key words
inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT), inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT), appendix

Reprint requests
Takahisa Hirokawa National Cancer Center Hospital
5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, 104-0045 JAPAN

Accepted
October 19, 2007

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