Acute appendicitis –⁠ a rare complication of colonoscopy

Czech version

Authors: T. Kadlčík; Ľ. Straka
Authors‘ workplace: Gastroenterologická ambulance, Uherskohradišťská nemocnice a. s., Uherské Hradiště
Published in: Gastroent Hepatol 2017; 71(4): 337-340
Category: Digestive Endoscopy: Case Report
doi: https://doi.org/10.14735/amgh2017337

Overview

Acute appendicitis induced by colonoscopy is a very rare complication with 0.038% occurrence. Until July, 2016, only 37 cases have been described. The exact relationship between colonoscopy and development of acute appendicitis is not well known, but is probably caused by a combination of factors. The submitted case presents a patient without previous abdominal symptoms, who developed acute appendicitis in 48 hours after non-complicated colonoscopy. A delay in diagnosis caused by self-treatment and late admission to the hospital led to the formation of a periappendicular infiltrate. The patient was treated conservatively with antibiotics and underwent laparoscopic appendectomy almost 4 months later. Only 4 out of 37 described cases of acute appendicitis were treated primarily conservatively. In other cases, where treatment was documented, patients underwent appendectomy as the treatment of first choice. The objective of this report is to point out the occurrence of acute appendicitis as a rare complication of colonoscopy, which nonetheless should be included in the differential diagnosis of abdominal pain after colonoscopy.

Key words:
appendicitis –⁠ colonoscopy –⁠ endoscopy

The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study.

The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE „uniform requirements“ for biomedical papers.

Submitted:
25. 5. 2017

Accepted:
11. 7. 2017

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