Sgourakis G, Sotiropoulos GC, Molmenti EP, Eibl C, Bonticous S, Moege J, Berchtold C. Are acute exacerbations of chronic inflammatory appendicitis triggered by coprostasis and/or coproliths? World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(20): 3179-3182 [PMID: 18506922 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.14.3179]
Corresponding Author of This Article
George Sgourakis, MD, PhD, 2nd Surgical Department, Korgialenio-Benakio Red Cross Hospital, 11 Mantzarou street, Neo Psychiko, Athens 15451, Greece. ggsgourakis@yahoo.gr
Article-Type of This Article
Rapid Communication
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2008; 14(20): 3179-3182 Published online May 28, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.3179
Are acute exacerbations of chronic inflammatory appendicitis triggered by coprostasis and/or coproliths?
George Sgourakis, Georgios C Sotiropoulos, Ernesto P Molmenti, Charis Eibl, Stylianous Bonticous, Jurgen Moege, Christoph Berchtold
George Sgourakis, Georgios C Sotiropoulos, Ernesto P Molmenti, Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Essen 45122, Germany
George Sgourakis, 2nd Surgical Department, Korgialenio-Benakio Red Cross Hospital, Athens 15451, Greece
Georgios C Sotiropoulos, Charis Eibl, Christoph Berchtold, Department of General Surgery, Marien Hospital Bottrop, Bottrop 46236, Germany
Stylianous Bonticous, Jurgen Moege, Institute of Pathology, Marien Hospital Bottrop, Bottrop 46236, Germany
Author contributions: Sgourakis G, study conception and design; Sotiropoulos GC, acquisition of data; Sgourakis G, analysis and interpretation of data; Molmenti EP and Eibl C, drafting of manuscript; Bonticous S, independent pathologist; Moege J and Berchtold C, critical revision.
Correspondence to: George Sgourakis, MD, PhD, 2nd Surgical Department, Korgialenio-Benakio Red Cross Hospital, 11 Mantzarou street, Neo Psychiko, Athens 15451, Greece. ggsgourakis@yahoo.gr
Telephone: +30-210-6716015
Fax: +30-210-6716015
Received: January 18, 2008 Revised: April 22, 2008 Accepted: April 29, 2008 Published online: May 28, 2008
Abstract
AIM: To examine the role of coprostasis and coproliths in recurrent appendicitis.
METHODS: We evaluated four hundred and twenty seven consecutive pathology reports of all appende-ctomy specimens from January 2003 to December 2004. Findings were categorised as showing acute appen-dicitis, acute recurrent appendicitis, subacute recurrent appendicitis, chronic appendicitis, or appendices without inflammation. All patients had presented with acute right lower quadrant pain. In 94 instances, there was a history of recurrent similar episodes in the past.
RESULTS: Of the 427 histology reports, 294 were inter-preted as showing acute appendicitis, 56 acute recurrent appendicitis, 34 subacute recurrent appendicitis, 28 chronic appendicitis, and 15 non-inflamed appendices. Coprostasis was observed in 58 patients (13.58%) and the presence of coprolith in 6 (1.4%). Coprostasis, and age, were among the predictors in the final model.
CONCLUSION: Coprostasis but not coproliths seems to be a contributing factor to acute exacerbations of chronic inflammatory appendicitis.
