Acute Appendicitis Caused by Metastasis from Other Organs: A Systematic Review

Acute appendicitis resulting from inflammation of the mucosa is the most common cause of emergency surgical causes. However, acute appendicitis caused by metastasis from other organs is very rare. Patients having this entity were only described in the literature as case reports. This study aims to analyze data from published articles about this condition.

We performed a systematic review using the PRISMA protocol. PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and the Google Scholar Library were searched up to the end of December 2022.

A total of 34 patients were included, of which 22 were male. The mean age was 58.94. Primary site of tumors were mainly lungs (32.35%), breast (20.59%), and stomach (17.65%). All patients underwent surgical treatment except one patient who was given medical treatment. In 10 patients (29.41%), acute appendicitis was the initial manifestation to diagnose the primary malignancy and in 21 patients (61.77%), there were other sites of secondary lesions. Post operative mortality was reported in 1 patient (2.93%).

Acute appendicitis secondary to metastatic disease is uncommon but rarely will be the presenting sign of new cancer diagnosis. Most of the patients have other sites of secondary lesions. Surgical treatment is commonly performed to treat appendicitis.