Acute appendicitis as a sign of a colorectal carcinoma

The relationship of acute appendicitis occurring previous to cancer in colon and rectum was studied in the consecutive records of 561 patients, of 40 years of age and older, operated upon with an appendectomy because of acute appendicitis. Sixteen (2.9%) of these patients were readmitted within three years because of a carcinoma in colon or rectum. The incidence of carcinoma in the colon and rectum in the population, of the same age, is only 0.1%, according to the Sweden Cancer Registry (1). This difference is statistically significant. Where acute appendicitis and colon carcinoma co-exist, the danger is that the carcinoma may be missed. Therefore, any patient over the age of 40 presenting with acute appendicitis should be carefully checked for carcinoma in the colon.