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Mesenteric lipoma

Case contributed by Domenico Nicoletti
Diagnosis almost certain

Presentation

Chronic intermittent abdominal pain.

Patient Data

Age: 80 years
Gender: Female
ct

The coronal reformats best show a prominent mass with homogeneous fatty attenuation in the lower abdominal cavity on the right. On the right there is also a modest compressive effect on the ileal loops and on the bladder dome.

 

Annotated CT

Annotated image

The coronal reformats best show a prominent mass with homogeneous fatty attenuation in the lower abdominal cavity on the right. On the right there is also a modest compressive effect on the ileal loops and on the bladder dome (yellow arrow).

In an ileal loop, in the submucosa, there is a small lipoma that protrudes into the lumen (yellow circle).

Case Discussion

Mesenteric lipomas are rare. They generally form as a slow-growing, non-lobulated, soft, mobile mass that does not penetrate into surrounding organs. Although many lipomas are an incidental finding, they have been reported to cause variable symptoms when the tumor grows very large. When the tumor is near the intestinal lumen and far from the mesenteric root, it may cause abdominal pain by pressing upon the intestinal loops.

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