Longest Appendix Removed

Abstract

Acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical emergencies worldwide. Diagnosis of appendicitis can be puzzling at times and requires a high index of suspicion. The length of an appendix can vary between 2 and 20 cm with an average adult length of about 9 cm. In our case study, a 42-year-old man presented in the surgical outpatient department with complaint of pain in the abdomen for the past 7 days and nausea in the last 2 days. Intra-operatively, the blind-ended muscular tip of the appendix was identified in the pelvic region and was traced by gentle blunt dissection to the base of the caecum. The length of the appendix measured post-operatively was found to be 23 cm. Appendicitis is one of the most routinely performed operations in the world. The length of the appendix is found to be highly variable which is responsible for its myriad of different presentations intra-operatively. The focal point of any appendectomy is either finding the caecum and then tracing it to the appendix or in our case, tracing the tip of the appendix and then tracing it to its base at the caecum.