Cancer and appendectomy

Abstract

A recent report based on necropsy material suggested an association between appendectomy and subsequent development of colonic and other cancers. An attempt was made to repeat this observation using live patients; 588 cases of breast cancer, 500 of cervical cancer and 568 of colonic cancer received a circular letter asking about previous appendectomy, tonsillectomy and cholecystectomy. A similar circular was sent to 916 healthy patients. A high percentage of replies was obtained and it was clear that patients with cancer did not have a higher incidence of previous appendectomy than did the control patients. Criticism is made of the experimental design of the original study which might explain the results obtained. The authors conclude that there is no evidence to suggest that appendectomy may predispose to subsequent development of malignant disease.