Details

Vermiform process

GC.7470

Wet specimen. Vermiform process showing deformity from a male aged 74 years, whose symptoms were of atypical appendicitis or intestinal obstruction. At operation the enlarged vermiform process was found partially strangulated. The vermiform process at its attachment to the caecum is of normal size but almost immediately expands to form an oval cyst with a slight constriction towards its distal third. The process measures 115 mm. in length and 205 mm. in maximum circumference. The mesenteriole is thick and fleshy. The wall of the vermiform process is for the most part thick, white and opaque and in places somewhat purple from congestion. The surface is thickened by fibrinous accretion to the serosa but there have been few adhesions. The contents of the cyst are entirely mucinous. Microscopic examination shows the vermiform process fibrous and devoid of surface epithelium.