Carcinoma of colon and appendix related to faecal stasis.

It is widely accepted that carcinoma of the large bowel is common in the Western world because we eat a low residue diet which causes faecal stasis. The part of the large bowel with the most stasis is the appendix, which has similar mucosa; but the incidence of carcinoma per unit area of appendicular mucosa is four times less than carcinoma per unit area of large bowel. Therefore, faecal stasis is probably not important in the aetiology of carcinoma of the appendix.