[Diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of primary appendiceal tumors: analysis of 37 cases].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the pathology, diagnosis,treatment, and prognosis of primary appendiceal tumors.


METHODS
The clinical data of 37 patients with primary tumors of the appendix, 16 males and 21 females, aged 56 +/- 13 (35-87) hospitalized Jan. 1977 to Feb. 2007 were analyzed retrospectively.


RESULTS
Appendicitis and abdominal mass were the major clinical manifestations. All 37 cases received surgical operation with the diagnosis confirmed by pathology. The pathological types included carcinoid tumor (n=12), mucinous tumor (n=17), and adenocarcinoma (n=8). Only 4 cases were diagnosed pathologically by biopsy before operation, 28 cases were diagnosed by intra-operative frozen section, and 5 cases were diagnosed after operation. Single appendectomy were performed in 17 cases, ileocecalectomy in 9 cases, right hemicolectomy in 8 cases, and other operation patterns in 3 cases. The 1, 3, and 5-year survival rates of the primary appendix carcinoid tumor, mucinous tumor, and adenocarcinoma were 100.0%, 100.0%, and 91.7%, 100.0%, 86.7%, and 71.5%, and 75.0%, 50.0%, and 50.0% respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
A rare disease, appendiceal tumors lack specific clinical features. Intra-operative exploration and frozen section are very important for diagnosis and operation choice. The prognosis of primary appendix carcinoid tumors is better.
You
Jun
J
Department of Oncological Surgery, Xiamen First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Xiamen 361003, China.
Xu
Lin
L
Zheng
Geng-yang
GY
Qiu
Jiang-feng
JF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001063:Appendiceal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis