A Case of Mucocele of the Appendix Resected in a Pregnant Woman

Hiroyuki Tanaka, Hisanaga Horie, Makiko Kurita, Toru Hamada, Hidetoshi Kumano, Koji Koinuma, Yasuyuki Miyakura, Kazutomo Togashi, Yoshikazu Yasuda and Mitsugu Hironaka*

Department of Surgery and Department of Pathology*, Jichi Medical University

A 27-year-old woman seen for irregular menstruation, and found to have a right ovarian cyst became pregnant and underwent laparotomy during the 18th week of pregnancy. Instead of an ovarian cyst, she was found to have a 13 cm spindle-shaped tumor of the appendix, necessitating appendectomy and partial ceacal resection to avoid possible perforation during pregnancy. The surgical specimen proved histologically to be an appendiceal mucinous cystoadenoma. The patient and fetus had an uneventful postoperative course followed by a natural childbirth. We review the literature on appendiceal mucocele in pregnant women and its features.

Key words
mucocele, mucinous cystadenoma, pregnancy

Reprint requests
Hisanaga Horie Department of Surgery, Jichi Medical University
3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotuke, 329-0498 JAPAN

Accepted
December 17, 2008

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