A young actor died of "it". Have you heard of "appendix cancer"?

Hollywood actor Adan Canto died of appendix cancer at the age of 42. Have you heard of "appendix cancer"?

In our daily lives, we must be familiar with appendicitis, but do you know about "appendix cancer"?

Understanding the appendix

The appendix is ​​located in the right lower abdomen. It is a long, thin tubular structure that extends from the middle and posterior part of the cecum, 1-3 cm below the ileocecal junction, and is shaped like an earthworm. The appendix contains a large amount of lymphoid tissue and intestinal flora, and is involved in the human immune response and intestinal flora regulation. It is not completely useless.

Common diseases - appendicitis

Clinically, the most common appendix disease is appendicitis. Appendicitis mainly includes acute appendicitis, chronic appendicitis, subacute appendicitis and granulomatous appendicitis. When it occurs acutely, it often causes symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and fever. When the inflammation is limited to the mucosal layer, it is simple appendicitis; when the inflammation diffuses and spreads, causing a large number of neutrophil infiltration in all layers of the appendix wall, it is acute suppurative appendicitis; if the disease continues to develop, it causes extensive bleeding and infarction of the appendix, and the appendix wall is destroyed, which can lead to gangrenous appendicitis; severe cases may be complicated by perforation.

Malignant tumor of appendix

The appendix can not only develop the inflammatory diseases we are familiar with, but also malignant tumors.

Malignant tumors of the appendix are divided into epithelial adenocarcinoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and non-epithelial lymphomas and sarcomas according to pathological histology. However, in the early stages of appendix tumors, the clinical symptoms are not obvious and are difficult for patients to detect. In the advanced stage of the disease, patients may experience fatigue, chronic abdominal pain or a feeling of fullness, which may also lead to symptoms such as appendicitis and intestinal obstruction. Clinically, most patients seek medical treatment due to appendicitis, and pathological findings after surgery confirm that they are malignant tumors of the appendix, with appendix adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors being the most common.

Knowing that the appendix can also develop malignant tumors, there is no need to panic too much. If you experience symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, and malignant discomfort, you should go to a regular hospital for early detection and treatment.

Figure 1 is from the Internet, and the remaining pictures were collected from the Pathology Department of Tangshan Workers’ Hospital.