2007 Volume 43 Issue 7 Pages 938-944
An 8-year-old girl showed symptoms of acute abdomen by the inflammatory infiltration of the retroperitoneal lymphangioma to the seromuscular layer of the 4th portion of the duodenum. A retroperitoneal multilocular tumor was resected together with resection of the seromuscular layer of the duodenum. The literature on 71 cases of abdominal lymphangioma in children during 6 recent years were reviewed. In 33 cases, the origin was small intestinal mesenterium. In 4 particular cases among them, the origin was the intestinal wall or the tumor was invaded the intestinal wall (intestinal type). Mesocolon, greater or lesser omentum, retroperitoneum, and spleen were the site of origin in 5, 9, 1, 21, and 2 cases, respectively. In 23 (70%) of 33 cases with mesenteric tumor of the small intestine including 4 cases of the intestinal type, combined resection of the adjacent intestine was done. In another 10 cases, the tumor was removed without damaging the surrounding organ. For the lesions originating from the mesocolon, greater or lesser omentum, complete removal of the tumor was done in 3 cases and in 7 cases, and partial resection with fenestration was observed in 2 cases and 3 cases, respectively. Among 21 cases of retroperitoneal lymphangioma, 19 cases underwent operation, while tumors in 2 cases disappeared during the follow-up. Complete removal was done in 13 cases and partial resection was performed in another 6 cases. Consequently, re-operation or persistent chylorrhea was reported in approximately 30% of the cases. Regarding the pathological features of these 71 cases, most of the lesions were multicystic, while cavernous lymphangioma was demonstrated in 4 cases (small intestinal mesenterium origin in 3 and spleen in 1).
