Acute appendicitis caused by endometriosis: A case report

Abstract

Introduction. Endometriosis is a well-recognized gynecological condition in the reproductive age group. Surgical texts present the gynecological aspects of the disease in detail, but the published literature on unexpected manifestations, such as appendiceal disease, is inadequate. The presentation to general surgeons may be atypical and pose diagnostic difficulty. Thus, a definitive diagnosis is likely to be established only by the histological examination of a specimen. Case presentation. We report a case of endometriosis of the appendix in a 25-year-old Caucasian woman who presented with symptoms of acute appendicitis and was treated by appendectomy, which resulted in a good outcome. Conclusions: We discuss special aspects of acute appendicitis caused by endometriosis to elucidate the pathologic entity of this variant of acute appendicitis. © 2011 Laskou et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.