Mucocele of the Appendix: A Case Report

Abstract

Appendicular mucocele is an infrequent entity that constitutes a descriptive term to define an enlarged cecal appendix with accumulation of mucus in its interior, which can be due to both neoplastic and non-neoplastic causes. Patients are usually asymptomatic, becoming an incidental finding. However, in other cases the symptoms are highly variable (abdominal pain, palpable abdominal mass, digestive bleeding...) and differential diagnosis can become a challenge. In this way, imaging studies as ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play an important role in preoperative diagnosis, since they provide information that can be decisive when it comes to select the most appropriate surgical intervention modality. We report a case of a patient who presented an incidental mass in lower right quadrant that turned out to be an appendicular mucocele.