Herein we describe a rare case of acute appendicitis associated with localized aspergillosis in an 8-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. During chemotherapy, the patient complained of mild abdominal pain in the peri-umbilical area and displayed an increased C-reactive protein level. Abdominal ultrasonography disclosed appendicitis and consequently an appendectomy was done.
Histologically, acute appendicitis and Aspergillus hyphae were identified in the lumen and necrotic mucosa. However, there was no evidence of systemic aspergillosis. While aspergillosis is a common fungal infection in immunocompromised patients treated with chemotherapy, acute appendicitis associated with localized aspergillosis without systemic infection is a very rare occurrence.
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A scoping review on acute gastrointestinal surgical complications in immunocompromised pediatric patients Tarek Bou Dargham, Mohamad Bahij Moumneh, Christine Atallah, Ahmad Zaghal Annals of Pediatric Surgery.2022;[Epub] CrossRef
Isolated Acute Appendicitis Caused by Aspergillu s in a Patient Who Underwent Lung Transplantation: A Case Report H.S. Kim, H.J. Yeo, D.H. Shin, W.H. Cho, D. Kim Transplantation Proceedings.2018; 50(4): 1199. CrossRef
Fungal Appendicitis in Immunocompromised Children. Indications and Contraindications for Laparoscopic Appendectomy: A Report on 2 Successful Cases Veronica Carlini, Valeria Calcaterra, Nunzia Decembrino, Laura Rubert, Noemi Pasqua, Mattia Novario, Marco Lucioni, Marco Brunero, Gloria Pelizzo Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.2016; 38(7): 581. CrossRef
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We reviewed 2159 consecutive cases of surgically resected appendices. The appendectomy specimen consisted of 91 cases of acute focal appendicitis (5.4%), 926 cases of acute suppurative appendicitis (55.1%), 228 cases of acute gangrenous appendicitis (13.6%), 63 cases of periappendicitis (3.8%), 13 cases of pure fibrous obliteration of the lumen (FOL; 0.8%), 18 cases of other diseases (7 mucoceles, 2 mucinous cystic neoplasms, 4 carcinoids, 2 metastatic carcinomas, 2 tuberculous appendicitides, and 1 eosinophilic appendicitis; 1%), and 342 cases with no diagnostic abnormality (20.3%). Patients having acute appendicitis ranged from 3 to 84 years of age, and patients in their 10's and 20's occupied over half of 2159 cases. Diagnostic accuracy of the acute appendicitis was 79.7%. Incidence of the acute appendicitis was suspected to be 7.2/100,000/year. Twenty eight cases of acute appendicitis were associated with diverticula. In the former acute primary diverticulitis led to acute appendicitis in 14 of 28 cases. Among 478 incidental appendectomy cases, there were 3 acute focal appendicitides, 1 acute suppurative appendicitis, 1 eosinophilic appendicitis, 32 periappendicitides, 1 mucocele, 40 pure FOLs, 1 deciduosis, 1 endometriosis, and 1 diverticulosis without inflammation. There were 69 cases of FOL (32 complete forms and 37 incomplete forms), among which 13 cases were associated with acute appendicitis. FOL was more frequent in female patients as well as patients over 40 years of age. Incomplete FOL was considered to progress to complete form with age. The incidence of appendiceal diverticula was higher, whereas the incidences of carcinoid tumor and FOL were lower compared with that in the western report. In 14 of 28 cases the appendiceal diverticulum was the site in which acute appendicitis began.
Kikuchi's disease is a benign self-limiting necrotizing lymphadenitis that occurs most commonly in young women, and is usually found in the cervical lymph nodes. When there is an unusual location of involved lymph nodes, the diagnosis can be difficult. We recently treated a patient with Kikuchi's disease who had ileocecal mesenteric lymph node involvement; the patient presented with symptoms of acute appendicitis in an 11-year old boy. Although mesenteric lymph node involvement of Kikuchi's disease is very rare, Kikuchi's disease should be added to the differential diagnosis of acute appendicitis in patients with enlarged ileocecal mesenteric lymph nodes on radiological evaluation.