Association between Oesophageal Diverticula and Leiomyomas: A Report of Two Cases

Abstract

We report two rare cases of female patients presenting with oesophageal leiomyoma associated with oesophageal diverticulum, both of whom were surgically managed. Oesophageal leiomyoma and oesophageal diverticulum are uncommon as separate entities and rare as combined disease presentation. Clinicians need to be aware of the rare combination of the two entities and need to be able to exclude the presence of a tumour (benign or malignant) within a diverticulum and so plan the optimum treatment. Herein, we present two cases of oesophageal leiomyoma within oesophageal diverticulum and we try to elucidate the association between the two. To date, there is no consensus whether a diverticulum is secondary to a leiomyoma or, on the contrary, a leiomyoma arises within a diverticulum.

Esophageal leiomyoma within an epinephric diverticulum

“…Benign tumors like leiomyoma are even more infrequent. Moreover, the potential for malignant transformation in a diverticulum is associated with stagnation and should always be a significant consideration when managing a long-standing diverticulum [1] . The definitive surgical management is diverticulectomy by interventional endoscopy; although, it can be treated conservatively [ 6 , 13 ].…”

“…Esophageal diverticula and esophageal leiomyoma are benign pathologies of the esophagus; both present challenges in their respective diagnosis and management. Their co-existence is rare with only a limited number of documented cases [1] . Individually, epinephric diverticula comprise less than 15% of all esophageal diverticulas while esophageal leiomyomas account for almost 10% of all gastrointestinal leiomyomas [ 2 , 3 ].…”