Endometriosis of the appendix presenting as acute appendicitis

Summary

As with other types of endometriosis in the intestinal tract, endometriosis of the appendix is generally asymptomatic and is usually discovered incidentally during laparotomy in patients with pelvic endometriosis. When it presents with symptoms they are difficult to differentiate from acute appendicitis. Appendiceal endometriosis may not only cause symptoms of acute appendicitis, but may also present as cyclic and chronic right lower quadrant pain, melena, lower intestinal haemorrhage and caecal intussusception. We report a case of appendiceal endometriosis clinically presenting as acute appendicitis, where the definitive diagnosis was established by histopathological examination of the appendix.