SOMETIMES IT REALLY IS APPENDICITIS - CASE OF A CML PATIENT WITH ACUTE APPENDICITIS

We report on the case of a 24-year-old white man with a history of chr onic leukemia treated with unrelated bone marrow transplantation and c hemotherapy who was correctly diagnosed with appendicitis rather than typhlitis. The approach to diagnosing an acute abdomen in the leukemic patient is discussed, with particular focus on appendicitis vs. typhl itis. A focused CT scan proved to be instrumental in making the correc t diagnosis of appendicitis in our patient. The literature on this top ic for the past 30 years is reviewed. The purpose of our report is to demonstrate that despite the recent trend toward diagnosing RLQ pain a s typhlitis which requires medical management, there are still instanc es where it 'really is' appendicitis. Appendicitis, therefore, must al ways be ruled out in the leukemic patient.