Pahissa Robert A, Lin-Hurtubise Kevin M
F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Department of Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
Mil Med. 2020 Sep 18;185(9-10):e1851-e1853. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaa039.
Acute appendicitis is one of the most prevalent causes of an acute abdomen. Although the cause of appendicitis is not completely understood, the theory of luminal obstruction is a popular belief, with appendicoliths being a common etiology. While appendicoliths are quite common, giant appendicoliths >2 cm are rare. Although previous reports cite only two or three other occurrences of giant appendicoliths, we found at least 11 reported cases in the literature. We present a young male diagnosed preoperatively on computed tomography to have a large appendiceal mass of 2.2 cm. This case is presented for the rarity of giant appendicoliths along with a review of the literature.