Polyp of the Appendix

Robert P. Sticca, M.D., and Michael L. Palmer, M.D.

N Engl J Med 1993; 329:1709December 2, 1993

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Figure 1 Polyp of the Appendix.

An asymptomatic filling defect of the appendix was discovered during a barium enema (arrow, Panel A) in a 72-year-old woman during an evaluation for persistently guaiac-positive stools. After laparoscopic appendectomy, a 5-mm sessile polypoid lesion was found at the base of the appendix (arrows, Panel B). (The specimen was opened longitudinally.) Histologic analysis (Panel C) showed the lesion to be an adenomatous polyp (hematoxylin and eosin, x10). Extensive studies of the gastrointestinal tract failed to disclose the source of bleeding, but it was thought to be due either to the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents or to diverticulitis of the left colon. The appendiceal polyp was probably not the cause of bleeding.

Kim Eagle, M.D.

Robert P. Sticca, M.D.
Michael L. Palmer, M.D.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263

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