TUMORS OF THE MESENTERY

Abstract

Innocent tumors of the mesentery might be said to be very rare, cysts being the most common.Of the solid tumors, lipomas seem to predominate, fibromas being the most rare.Benign tumors may occur in any portion of the peritoneum, but more especially in the omentum and mesentery.They may be either single or multiple.The omental tumors are usually not omental-that is, they usually originate in some other organ.Lipomas in the subperitoncal tissues of the anterior ab¬ dominal wall have been repeatedly described.They usually protrude into the abdominal cavity, and vary greatly in size.They may also be present in the omentum and mesentery.They may grow to enormous size, so as to fill the entire abdom¬ inal cavity.Fibromas of the peritoneum, the most , rare, must be dis¬ tinguished from so-called fibrous peritonitis, in which the peritoneum is uniformly covered with fibrous-tissue over¬ growth.The larger fibromas may be as large as an adult's head or larger.Lexer removed a fibroma weighing five pounds from the mesentery of a man aged forty-five years, who had suffered with colic for several weeks.It is possible for a fibroma to be detached from a broad ligament or uterus, and reattached in some mesenteric region, but this is probably rare.Anderson quotes a remarkable case in which there were twenty-one fibromas, the largest weighing over seven pounds.