Primary adenocarcinoma of the appendix. A clinicopathological study of 11 cases.

Of eleven cases of adenocarcinoma of the appendix that were studied, five were examples of mucinous cystadenocarcinoma and four were examples of colonic-type adenocarcinoma. Two lesions were very distinctive, with thick, cord-like transformation of the appendix. The term linitis plastica carcinoma is proposed to describe this rare variant of appendiceal carcinoma. Justification for the separation of linitis plastica carcinoma from the other two types is based on morphological appearance and on outcome. Both our linitis plastica patients died of metastases within six months of surgery, whereas, in the other two groups, death was directly related to spread of the carcinoma in only two of nine patients.