Abstract
Cystic lymphangioma seldom involves the large bowel. Thirteen cases, including our case, are all that have ever been reported in Japan. This report presented a case of lymphangioma of the transverse colon in a 36-year-old woman, which was diagnosed preoperatively by the barium enema examination and the colonof iberscopic examination. She was referred to our hospital because of watery diarrhea. Barium enema examination of the colon demonstrated a sharply defined, smoothly and easily compressible filling defect of the transverse colon. Colonofiberscopic examination revealed a cystic tumor with fluctation of the transverse colon. The surface of this lesion was smooth and the color was same as that of the surrounding mucosa. The bridging folds were clear. Endoscopic biopsy of this tumor showed the normal colonic mucosa. After the biopsy, exuded a clear fluid from the tumor and the tumor schrank. This tumor was believed to be a cyst. The tumor was removed by segmental resection of the transverse colon. The resected tumor was pale yellow, soft, smoothly defined and measuring 2×2×1.5 cm. Histopathologically the tumor was covered with normal colonic mucosa and the dilated lymphatic spaces were separated by fibrous connected tissue septa. These findings were typical of lymphangioma.
