A CASE OF MESENSTERIC PANNICULITIS

A case of mesenteric panniculitis of the transeverse colon mesenterium is described in this report. The patient was a 63-year-old male complaining of abdominal pain. Several tests and examinations demonstrated a tumor of the transverse colon mesenterium. Laparotomy was performed. The tumor was a single mass extending from the antrum of the stomach to the middle of the transverse colon and a part of jejunum. No tumor tissue was found by rapid intraoperative pathological diagnosis of specimens collected from 3 locations. However, subtotal gastrectomy, extended left colectomy and partial resection of the jejunum were performed because a possibility of hidden malignancy could not be denied from the macroscopic findings and palpation of the tumor. It was diagnosed as mesenteric panniculitis histopathologically. Only 38 cases of mesenteric panniculitis including the present case have been reported in the Japanese literature, indicating that this is a rare disease. Mesenteric panniculitis often mimicks other malignancies, and this case also presented difficulty in differential diagnosis and treatment.