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What Doctors Found in Over 4,000 Appendix Surgeries in Ireland

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A Single Institute Review of 4428 Consecutive Appendiceal Resections Incidence of Suspected and Incidental PathologyDOI DOI Not Listed in snippet PMID provided 41589533

The appendix is often removed when people have appendicitis—a painful swelling that usually requires surgery. But sometimes, the appendix is removed during other bowel surgeries or when a different issue is suspected.

This study looked at over 4,400 appendix removals in one hospital in Ireland to see what else doctors were finding.

The results showed that serious problems like cancer in the appendix were very rare.

Fewer than 1 out of 100 people had an unexpected tumor. Most of these were found in older adults, with an average age of around 55.

When doctors already suspected something serious before surgery, the patients were a little older—closer to 62.

These findings confirm that while appendix cancer is rare, it can sometimes be found by accident when the appendix is removed for other reasons.

That’s why all removed tissue is carefully checked in the lab after surgery.

For patients, this means that even if your appendix is removed for a simple reason, doctors will still make sure nothing more serious is going on. In very rare cases, that simple surgery might end up helping find a problem early.

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Dr. Harsh J Shah
Dr Harsh Shah - GI & HPB Oncosurgeon in India
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