Sclerosing mesenteritis: A case of acute abdomen and intestinal obstruction

Abstract

Sclerosing mesenteritis (SM) is a rare idiopathic disorder characterized by chronic non-specific inflammation involving the adipose tissue of the bowel mesentery. It may be asymptomatic but it commonly presents with abdominal pain. Some individuals may have a palpable abdominal mass and affected individuals may develop small bowel obstruction or acute abdomen. We report a case of 27-year old man who presented to the Surgery Department at Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku Awka, Anambra State with acute abdomen and intestinal obstruction. He subsequently, had a surgical resection, which was histologically confirmed as a sclerosing mesenteritis. Sclerosing mesenteritis is a rare disorder and this is the first case being reported in the literature from South-East, Nigeria.It is therefore, important to alert physicians, more especially the surgeons on the need to have a high index of suspicion in every case of intestinal obstruction.