A Case of Preoperatively Undiagnosed Retractile Mesenteritis

Yutaka Kojima, Humio Matsumoto, Youshi Mikami, Koji Namekata, Masahiko Takei, Kiichi Sugimoto, Daisuke Fujiwara and Yusuke Oyama

Department of Surgery, Koshigaya Municipal Hospital

A 75-year-old man undergoing transurethral resection for a bladder tumor in October 2000 and was followed up as an outpatient was found in computed tomography (CT) in May 2004 to have gross calcification in the small-intestine mesentery which was followed up. CT in July 2005 indicated a poorly demarcated tumor associated with calcification involving the mesentery. CT in February 2006 showed tumor growth and advanced calcification. Because the possibility of tumor malignancy could not be ruled out, and he underwent partial enterectomy with tumor resection in May 2006, yielding pathological diagnosis of retractile mesenteritis, considered to be a relatively late phase of mesenteric panniculitis. When a mesenteric tumor is found associated with heavy calcification, such in this case, retractile mesenteritis should be included in diagnosis and treatment.

Key words
retractile mesenteritis, mesenteric panniculitis

Reprint requests
Yutaka Kojima Department of Surgery, Koshigaya Municipal Hospital
10-47-1 Higashikoshigaya, Koshigaya, 343-8577 JAPAN

Accepted
September 26, 2007

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