Fatty tumours of the large intestine: a clinicopathological review of 13 cases

Abstract

Thirteen cases of benign fatty tumours of the colon have been reviewed. There were ten instances of submucosal lipoma, two of which were multiple, and three of lipohyperplasia of the ileocaecal valve. Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal bleeding were the commonest symptoms. Barium enema and angiography were misleading, the former in confusing polypoid lipomas and protruberant ileocaecal valves with carcinoma, the latter in misinterpreting fatty tissue vasculature as angiodysplasia in three patients. Most lesions were in the right side of the colon, and many were treated by limited colectomy as if for carcinoma or angiodysplasia. No patient has died as a result of their disease. Awareness of the possibility of colonic lipomas and knowledge of the normal ileocaecal valve anatomy are of importance to radiologists and endoscopists, particularly now that angiography is localizing the smaller fatty lesions.