THE APPEARANCE OF A NORMAL APPENDIX ON BARIUM ENEMA EXAMINATION DOES NOT RULE OUT A DIAGNOSIS OF CHRONIC APPENDICITIS - REPORT OF A CASE AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

We report herein the rare case of a 15-year-old girl with chronic appe ndicitis in whom the appendix was clearly depicted by a barium enema ( BE) examination, The patient presented with a 4-month history of diffu se abdominal pain and tenderness in the lower abdomen. Neither compute d tomography nor ultrasonography showed any abnormal findings in the l ower abdomen or pelvic cavity. Furthermore, BE examination depicted an appendix filled with the contrast medium. However, at elective surger y, she was found to have chronic appendicitis which was later confirme d histologically. Following this case report, a discussion on the valu e and limitations of BE examination for the diagnosis of acute and chr onic appendicitis is presented.