Cystic lymphangioma of the mesentery; review of the literature and report of a case.

Abstract

The report of unusual cases is justified because each report adds to the accumulated knowledge of a specific problem. With this in mind, we wish to report a mesenteric cyst which proved microscopically to be a cystic lymphangioma. The mesenteric cyst has been known since the Middle Ages, when one was described at autopsy by Benevieni, of Florence, in 1507. 1 However, his description is extremely sketchy. Rokitansky 2 apparently first described the chylous mesenteric cyst, i. e., cystic lymphangioma, in 1842. Since then many mesenteric cysts, chylous and otherwise, have been reported. Their rarity is attested to by the fact that Beahrs and Judd 3 found only 174 cysts of the omentum, mesentery, and retroperitoneal region in more than 1,000,000 patients at the Mayo Clinic, and of those at least 7 were chylous. Flynn 4 said mesenteric cysts are the rarest of all abdominal tumors. The case reported here