News Release

Heterotopic gastric tissue simulating acute appendicitis

Peer-Reviewed Publication

World Journal of Gastroenterology

It is not uncommon to find tissue that normally lines the stomach in locations outside of the digestive tract. This "heterotopic" gastric tissue has been identified in such diverse locations as the scrotum, the gall bladder, and the spinal cord.

This case, reported by a team led by Dr. Steven Paul Schmidt, is described in the April 14, 2008 edition of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Typically, when this gastric tissue is located outside of the digestive system it presents no problems to the patient. This report, however, describes a patient in which the heterotopic gastric tissue became inflamed. The tissue was located in an anatomic position such that the inflammation simulated signs and symptoms of acute appendicitis.

A patient arrived in the Emergency Room with what appeared to be a relatively standard case of appendicitis. The pain had originated in the peri-umbilical area, but had localized to the right lower side of the abdomen when the patient was examined in the emergency room. The patient also had an elevated white blood cell count supporting the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

However, when the appendix of this patient was exposed surgically it did not show any signs of inflammation. Upon further examination, Dr. Bender exposed what appeared to be an enlarged, inflamed lymph node adjacent to the appendix in connective tissue. When this lymph node was removed and examined by the pathologist it was shown convincingly to be tissue that normally lines the stomach. In addition, this gastric tissue was inflamed and showed signs of gastritis.

The patient's pain resolved as soon the heterotopic gastric tissue was removed and he has remained asymptomatic since that time.

This is an unique surgical case presentation. Although this is an extremely rare presentation, it's believed surgeons needs to be aware of the possibility of heterotopic gastric tissue simulating appendicitis when the appendix otherwise appears normal.

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Reference: Bender E, Schmidt SP. Extraintestinal heterotopic gastric tissue simulating acute appendicitis. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(14): 2268-2269 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/2268.asp

Correspondence to: Steven Paul Schmidt, PhD, Division of Surgical Research Summa Health System 525 East Market Street Akron, Ohio 44304, United States. schmidts@summa-health.org Telephone: +1-330-3753693 Fax: +1-330-3754648

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection. It provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the title China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.


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