Rare cause of intestinal obstruction - submucous lipoma of the sigmoid colon

Abstract

The lipoma of the colon is a benign and rare tumor. Most lipomas are asymptomatic, their discovery being fortuitous. The diagnosis is ussualy easy by colonoscopy associated with biopsies. The abdominal CT scan also has its role in the diagnostic process and in the assesment of the tumoral extension.The treatment depends essentially on the clinical picture, on the size and location of the lipoma and involves endoscopic or surgical excision. We present the case of a 56 years old woman in which a random colonoscopic and than tomographic diagnosis of a sigmoidian lipoma was made 2 years ago when the patient presented with different symptoms, the submucosal lipoma being small sized at the time; the surgical treatment(sigmoidectomy including the tumor) was currently indicated by the sub-occlusive syndrome and haematochezia, due to the intraluminal proliferation of the tumor.