Lymphangioma of the small bowel mesentery in a 7-year-old girl: a report of a case investigated with ultrasonography, elastosonography and computed tomography.

PURPOSE: To describe the characteristics of lymphangioma reporting a pediatric case of small bowel mesentery location, showing ultrasound-elastosonographic and computed tomography findings.

METHODS: A 7-year-old girl suffering from vomiting and abdominal pain underwent chest-abdomen radiography and abdomen ultrasound examination at our institution. These exams were repeated for 5 days after medical therapy and a computed tomography investigation was also performed.

RESULTS: Abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography examinations revealed the presence of a heterogeneous mesenteric mass occupying the right hemiabdomen displacing small bowel loops. Moreover, the mass had an irregular vascularisation pattern on color-Doppler study and appeared mostly green colored, like soft tissues, on elastosonographic colorimetric map. The little patient underwent surgery with removal of both the mass and the close adherent ileal loop. Finally, anatomopathologic diagnosis of mesenteric lymphangioma was made.

CONCLUSIONS: Although mesenteric lymphangioma is a rare disease that presents neither clinical nor imaging typical features requiring invasive procedure to be diagnosed, ultrasound-elastosonographic findings can suggest a benign condition and computed tomography scan is useful in order to plan surgery.