A Case of Small Bowel Mesenteric Actinomycosis Forming a Mesenteric Abscess

Abstract

An 81-year-old man who had been aware of right lower quadrant pain for one month was brought into our hospital by ambulance because the pain became worse from one week before. Following close exploration, emergency operation was decided with a diagnosis of mesenteric abscess. We performed partial resection of the small intestine, with adjuvant chemotherapy. A culture did not isolate Actinomyces, but histopathological findings disclosed actinomyces druse within the mesenteric abscess. We diagnosed the case as small bowel mesenteric actinomycosis. Actinomycosis is relatively rare, and especially it is very rare when the disease affects the mesentery of the small intestine like in our case presented here.