[The so-called appendiceal mucocele versus mucinous cystadenoma]

In a review of 3,573 appendectomies, three diagnoses of mucinous cystadenoma of the cecal appendix and eleven cases of appendicular mucocele were encountered. Once the new divisions were made and the pictures were reclassified, we found simple mucocele on only 3 occasions, the other 8 corresponding to mucinous cystadenomas. Appendicular mucocele requires serial microscopic study in which the papillary proliferative or mucosecretory lesions, although minimal, are evaluated as cystadenoma lesions. The diagnostic importance of appendicular cystadenoma lies in its association with other colorectal or ovarian neoplasms.