A case of goblet cell carcinoid of the appendix

Abstract

A 56-year-old male with right lower abdominal pain, nausea and abdominal flatulence was found to have occlusive ileus due to an ileocecal tumor. The laparotomy showed a firm appendicular tumor invading the terminal ileum and Cecum, yielding an intraoperative diagnosis of Appendical cancer necessitating ileocecal resection. The histopathological diagnosis was goblet cell carcinoid of appendix accompanied by poorly differeintiated adenocarcinoma. Adjuvant chemotherapy was not done. No sign of recurrence has been detected in the 9 months after the operation. Goblet cell carcinoid is a variation of the carcinoid tumor whose malignant potential appears to lie between the typical behavior of an ordinary carcinoid and that of adenocarcinoma of the appendix. Only 71 reports of goblet cell carcinoid have been made in Japan and no guidelines for appropriate therapy have been established. Further more, cases accompanied by adenocarcinoma are rare.