[Mucus-secreting tumors of the appendix: a preoperative diagnosis is possible. Apropos of 2 cases].

The authors present two cases of pseudo tumoral type Mucus Secreting Tumours (MST) of the appendix. In this type (32% of the cases), the clinical presentation, barium enema, ultrasonography and most importantly CT scan generally confirm the preoperative diagnosis. We found three advantages this preoperative diagnosis. 1) Primarily it allows selection of a large surgical approach that permits full exploration of the abdominal cavity especially the ovaries (2-18% associated lesions); 2) also it allows a histopathological examination (frozen section) of the appendix to be performed during the operation; 3) and finally the surgical treatment will depend on the operative findings and the result of the histopathological examination: in the benign forms simple appendicectomy will be sufficient but the malignant forms (12% of the cases) should be treated by right hemicolectomy.