[A study on nine cases of mucocele of the appendix]

A clinicopathological study was made on 9 cases of mucocele (8 cases of adenoma and 1 case of adenocarcinoma) of the appendix treated at the hospital in the recent 12 years. With abdominal CT, correct preoperative diagnosis was successfully made in 7 out of 9 cases of mucocele of the appendix. Two cases of mucocele of the appendix were diagnosed as peritoneal pseudomyxoma before surgery. The most common operative procedure was ileocecal resection in 4 cases including 2 cases undergone irrigation of the abdominal cavity, and partial cecectomy in 5 cases including 2 cases undergone irrigation in the abdominal cavity. For a patient with adenocarcinoma, we repeated intraperitoneal chemotherapy with cisplatin after surgery. Eight patients with adenoma are doing well, but one patient with adenocarcinoma died 48 months after surgery. Therapeutic approaches based on homogeneous pathologic entities can now be considered rationally.