[Appendicitis in old age]

Proceeding from the results of histomorphologic examination of the appendix in senile age, an attempt is made to explain why the incidence of appendicitis in this age decreases. It was found that in senile age there occur involutive changes which lead to a decline in appendix reactivity and absence of potential possibility for appendicitis to occur. However seldom, the process of senile involution of the appendix may be retarded. In this case the lymph follicles in the appendix contain a germinative center, indicating preserved reactivity and potential possibility for inflammatory process to develop. Senile involution is an overall biological phenomenon, which refers not only to the appendix, but to all other lymph tissue in the body.