Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb 17:5:69.
doi: 10.1186/1752-1947-5-69.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor causing unexplained anemia in a toddler: a case report

Mohammad Salameh  1 , Iyad Sultan, Maha Barbar, Maysa Al Hussaini, Abdullah Jameel, Khalil Ghandour, Ma'in Masarweh
Affiliations

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor causing unexplained anemia in a toddler: a case report

Mohammad Salameh et al. J Med Case Rep. .

Abstract

Introduction: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a very rare benign tumor in children that mimics malignant tumors in its aggressiveness locally and by the possibility of recurrence after surgical resection, and causing anemia of chronic disease, which is a decrease in hemoglobin 1 to 2 g/dL below normal level in a patient with chronic illness.

Case presentation: A 32-month-old boy from Libya presented with microcytic hypochromic anemia. He had been treated in three countries and five centers without response to medical therapy. He was investigated at our center and found to have a mass in the colon causing intermittent intussusception and bleeding. He was treated surgically, and his condition improved dramatically. The pathology report proved a diagnosis of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.

Conclusion: We report a case of an unusual tumor of the gastrointestinal tract causing chronic anemia not responding to medical treatment, and discuss the characteristics of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor. In our case, we stress the involvement of a multidisciplinary team in treating such a patient who presents with common symptoms and signs but in whom there has been no response to any of the measures and treatment protocols.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Colonoscopic view.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Intraoperative view.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kovach SJ, Fischer AC, Katzman PJ, Salloum RM, Ettinghausen SE, Madeb R, Koniaris LG. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors. J Surg Oncol. 2006;94(5):385–391. doi: 10.1002/jso.20516. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Souid AK, Ziemba MC, Dubansky AS, Mazur M, Oliphant M, Thomas FD, Ratner M, Sadowitz PD. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in children. Cancer. 1993;72(6):2042–2048. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19930915)72:6<2042::AID-CNCR2820720641>3.0.CO;2-I. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cviko A, Milic Z, Cizmic A, Seiwerth S, Kruslin B. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor with extensive involvement of the bowel in a 7-year-old child. Croat Med J. 1999;40(4):550–553. - PubMed
    1. Cho MY, Min YK, Kim NR, Cho SJ, Kim HK, Lee KC, Suh SO, Whang CW. Fever of unknown origin as a presentation of gastric inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in a two-year-old boy. J Korean Med Sci. 2002;17(5):699–703. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Karnak I, Senocak ME, Ciftci AO, Cağlar M, Bingöl-Koloğlu M, Tanyel FC, Büyükpamukçu N. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in children: diagnosis and treatment. J Pediatr Surg. 2001;36(6):908–912. doi: 10.1053/jpsu.2001.23970. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources