Giant mesenteric lipoma as an atypical cause of acute abdomen in adult patients, uncommon case report and literature review

Abstract

Lipomas are benign tumors of mature adipocytes. In general, they can occur throughout the body, but they commonly predominate in the upper part of the trunk and extremities. They are the most common mesenchymal cell tumors, their location in the mesentery being extremely rare. Mesenteric lipoma is a rare condition reported in the literature, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained abdominal pain. This report describes a rare case of mesenteric lipoma in an adult patient. Despite the benign nature of this tumor, it tends to grow to large dimensions, as is the case of our patient, which correlates with an increase in complications. Small, asymptomatic mesenteric lipomas generally do not require treatment, being diagnosed incidentally through routine abdominal imaging, or they may present with variable abdominal symptoms depending on the size, location, and rate of growth of the tumor. Complementary tests such as ultrasound and computed tomography of the abdomen are useful for diagnosis, the latter being the gold standard and complete surgical resection is the only treatment, with an excellent prognosis. We will describe the case of a giant mesenteric lipoma, which atypically caused acute abdominal pain, and we will carry out a review of the literature on this rare condition in adult patients with certain comorbidities, taking into account the infrequent location of its location for this type of tumors and its in turn, through a histopathological study, rule out any type of malignant behavior