Surgical approach to benign cecal ulcer

Benign cecal ulcer is a rare lesion, usually diagnosed during operation for suspected acute appendicitis or peritonitis of unknown origin. In the past, right hemicolectomy was recommended as the treatment of choice because of the difficulty in differentiating malignant lesions from benign cecal ulcers. However, in recent reports a more conservative approach has been suggested, consisting of selective colectomy followed by frozen section biopsy. This approach is aimed at preventing unnecessary excision of the colon and conserving the ileocecal valve. We present a 47-year-old woman operated for right lower quadrant peritonitis, believed to be due to acute appendicitis. On exploration, a biopsy-proven benign cecal ulcer was found and resected.