Abstract

Case Report

Actinomycosis of the appendix

Lucas Wheatley*, Michael Lonne, James Bennnet and Bhavik Patel

Published: 17 October, 2018 | Volume 2 - Issue 2 | Pages: 029-030

A 40 year old woman presented to the emergency department with acute on chronic abdominal pain in her right iliac fossa. On history her pain had been present for over 6 months and had previously been investigated with ultrasound, CT and a diagnostic laparoscopy several months prior to presentation. Her pain had acutely worsened over the preceding two weeks. This was associated with two days of diarrhoea but nil other systemic symptoms. Her medical history was significant for immunosuppression with tacrolimus, azathioprine and prednisone post renal transplant for IgA nephropathy [1]. Her abdominal examination was unremarkable other than tenderness in her right iliac fossa and a palpable non-tender renal transplant. Her inflammatory markers, electrolytes and urine microscopy were unremarkable. She was further investigated with an ultrasound which demonstrated nil complications with her transplant and a non-contrast CT (due to contrast allergy). Her CT demonstrated a faecolith within the appendiceal lumen but no signs of acute appendicitis (Figure 1). Due to ongoing pain and CT finding of faecolith she was taken for a diagnostic laparoscopy with appendicectomy.

 

Figure 1: Non-contrast CT demonstrating faecolith.

Intraoperatively she had a macroscopically normal appendix and no other cause for the patients symptoms could be identified. A laparoscopic appendicectomy was performed with no complications. Her pain persisted postoperatively and she was discharged post operative day two with analgesia. Histology subsequently revealed actinomyces-like organisms consistent with actinomycosis of the appendix (Figure 2). Her case was discussed with the Infectious diseases team and she was started on an extended course of oral amoxicillin [2].

 

Figure 2: High Powered H&E stain & gram stain of actinomyces like organisms

Read Full Article HTML DOI: 10.29328/journal.ascr.1001020 Cite this Article Read Full Article PDF

References

  1. Lee SY, Kwon HJ, Cho JH, Oh JY, Nam KJ, et al. Actinomycosis of the appendix mimicking appendiceal tumor: a case report. World J Gastroenterol. 2010; 16: 395-397. Ref.: https://goo.gl/mdd1aw
  2. Lisa-Gracia M, Martin-Rivas B, Pajaron-Guerrero M, Arnaiz-Garcia A. Abdominal actinomycosis in the last 10 years and risk factors for appendiceal actinomycosis: review of the literature. Turk J Med Sci. 2017; 47: 98-102. Ref.: https://goo.gl/FLcTkt
  3. Liu K, Joseph D, Lai K, Kench J, Ngu MC, et al. Abdominal actinomycosis presenting as appendicitis: two case reports and review. Journal of surgical case reports. J Surg Case Rep. 2016; 2016. Ref.: https://goo.gl/mh65Nd

Figures:

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