Monday, June 22, 2020

Case of the Week 596

This week's case was donated by Dr. Bobby Boyanton. The images show cross-sections of an appendix from a young girl with chronic abdominal pain. The pathologist became concerned when they saw the following objects within the lumen of the appendix (taken using 4x, 10x, 20x, 20x and 40x objectives, respectively). Identification?





3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enterobius?

Anonymous said...

Though histology sections are always my dread, my guess is that this case is one of Trichuris trichura. I believe seeing the annellations. Very often when we received a whipworm for identification, it is very coiled up and untangling the worm is always a challenge to our manual dexterity and steady hands. This specimen did not show the lateral spine often seen with Enterobius vermicularis.
Florida Fan

PCoyne said...

Although 'nematode in appendix' evokes the response 'Enterobius', the top photo suggests the presence of a stichosome which would be consistent with Florida Fan's observation. So I'll agree that Trichuris might be the culprit here.