A CASE OF AN INFLAMMATORY TUMOR OF THE OMENTUM DUE TO A FISH BONE PENETRATING THE APPENDIX

• Published in: Nihon Rinsho Geka Gakkai Zasshi (Journal of Japan Surgical Association) Vol. 63; no. 4; pp. 1013 - 1017
• Main Authors: HIRUKAWA, Hiroshi, ENDO, Kazuhiko, GOTO, Nobuyuki, HATAKEYAMA, Satoru, TOMITA, Hiroshi, KIMURA, Yoshihiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Surgical Association 2002
• ISSN: 1345-2843; 1882-5133
• DOI: 10.3919/jjsa.63.1013

A 70-year-old woman admitted for right lower abdominal pain was found to have a tumor palpated in the abdomen where she reported pain. We strongly suspected a malignant tumor of the appendix and operated, but found neither malignant tumor nor acute inflammatory change, but the appendix was surrounded firmly by a tumorous omentum. We conducted appendectomy and partial resection of the omentum. A detailed examination showed a fine fish bone in the resected omentum, and chronic inflammation with giant cells of foreign body type in the appendiceal wall microscopicaly. The mass was diagnosed as an inflammatory tumor of the omentum due to a fish bone penetrating the appendix. We believe this case is instructive because an inflammatory tumor of the omentum due to a fish bone penetrating the appendix without acute clinical symptoms is so rare that no reports of such a case have been encountered in the world literature, and the pathological change in the appendiceal wall where the fish bone penetrated and closed spontaneously was able to be examined. When intraabdominal tumors of unknown origin are encountered, this possibility should thus be considered.