Retention mucocele of distal viable remnant tip of appendix: an unusually rare late surgical complication following incomplete appendectomy

A 67-year old man was presented with a 6-mo history of recurrent right lower quadrant abdominal pain. On physical examination, a vague mass was palpable in the right lumbar region. His routine laboratory tests were normal. Ultrasonography showed a hypoechoic lesion in the right lumbar region anterior to the right kidney with internal echoes and fluid components. Abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) showed a well-defined hypodense cystic mass lesion lateral to the ascending colon/caecum, not communicating with the lumen of colon/caecum. After complete open excision of the cystic mass lesion, gross pathologic examination revealed a turgid cystic dilatation of appendiceal remnant filled with the mucinous material. On histopathological examination, mucinous cyst adenoma of appendix was confirmed. We report this rare unusual late complication of mucocele formation in the distal viable appendiceal remnant, which was leftover following incomplete retrograde appendectomy. This unusual complication is not described in the literature and we report it in order to highlight the fact that a high index of clinical and radiological suspicion is essential for the diagnosis of mucocele arising from a distal viable appendiceal remnant in a patient who has already undergone appendectomy presenting with recurrent abdominal pain.