Appendices of children operated on because of clinical signs of acute
appendicitis and presenting normal histological findings were revised
by means of special assays. These findings were then compared with app
endectomies during abdominal surgery, catarrhal and early phlegmonous
appendicitis. We found pathological changes of the epithelium and the
lymphatic tissue in more than two thirds of the specimens originally c
lassified as normal. Therefore the term of ''negative appendectomy'' h
as to be redefined.