Two patients with cystic lymphangioma of the mesentery were reported. One was a 5-year-old girl with intestinal obstruction and the other was a 3-year-old boy presented bilious vomiting. Both patients were diagnosed before operation using US, CT and GI series. The cysts were removed with resection of the involved segment of intestine and they were doing well after operation. We reviewed 378 cases of mesenteric cysts including 3 our own cases and newly collected 111 cases reported between 1977 and 1986 in Japanese literature. Of 114 newly collected cases, 72 cases (63%) were under 10 years of age. The most common symptom was abdominal pain and then nausea, vomiting and palpable mass in order of frequency. The diagnosis before operation was made more frequently using US (83.7%) than without US (21.1%, p< 0.001). The patients who were diagnosed before operation by US tend to have obstructive symptoms less frequency and palpable mass more frequently.
