Korean J Gastrointest Endosc.
2009 Sep;39(3):172-175.
A Case of Lymphangiomatosis Arising in the Colon
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea. cklee92@paran.com
- 2Department of Pathology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea.
Abstract
- Lymphangioma is a benign vascular lesion that shows the characteristics of subepithelial tumor, which can proliferate in the lymphatic system. Only a few cases of multiple lymphangimas of the colon, the so called "colonic lymphanigomatosis", have been currently reported on the medical literature. Because lymphangioma is absolutely a benign tumor, it does not require any specific treatment, except for rare disease-related symptoms or complications such as anemia, intussusception and protein-losing enteropathy. Endoscopic resection for this tumor has sometimes been performed for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We recently experienced a case of multiple colonic lymphangomas that arose in the ascending colon of a 46-year-old male patient and these lesions were found during performance of colonoscopy. The final diagnosis was confirmed by a pathologic examination of the specimen that was obtained via endoscopic resection. Follow-up colonoscopy at 1 year after the initial examination showed complete resolution of the previously noted lesions without any specific treatment. We report here on a very rare case of colonic lymphangiomatosis along with a brief review of the relevant literature.