Presentation
Pain in the lower right abdomen.
Patient Data
"Target" appearance of the slightly dilated appendix with mild wall thickening. No adjacent fluid collection or extralumninal gas.
Mildly thickened appendix with a diameter of up to 8 mm and surrounding edema with stranding of the peritoneal fat. No fluid collection, extraluminal gas or ascites.
Case Discussion
This patient presented with increasing lower right quadrant abdominal pain. Ultrasound was performed upon presentation, some 2 days after reported symptom onset, and showed a typical target appearance of the mildly thickened appendix, indicative of acute appendicitis. Non-contrast CT was performed one hour later to confirm the diagnosis and rule out other pathology. It showed a moderately thickened appendix with some surrounding edema, at the same time ruling out perforation or an abscess. At surgery the appendix was found thickened with no phlegmone or abscess formation, and was laparoscopically resected.