Origin of acute appendicitis: fecal retention in colonic reservoirs: a case control study.

Background: Appendicitis is encountered predominantly in Western, industrialized countries. Animal experiments and clinical studies have suggested an obstructive fecalith as a cause of acute appendicitis. It was hypothesized that patients with acute appendicitis would have a longer colonic transit time and more fecal retention reservoirs (coprostasis) than healthy control persons, thus favoring the occurrence of a fecalith in the appendix.