Colon angiolipoma with intussusception: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Angiolipomas are frequently observed benign tumors. They have a typical vascular component and are often located in subcutaneous tissues, and more rarely, in the gastrointestinal tract. We present the case of a 58-year-old man who complained of abdominal discomfort in the left lower quadrant and two to three bloody stools a day without any obvious etiology. These symptom became more severe in the next three days, due to a large angiolipoma located in the descending colon, which was diagnosed intraoperatively. In a literature review, we found only 22 cases of angiolipomas involving the gastrointestinal tract which are reported in the literature from 1960 to 2012 in PubMed; the key words used in the search are gastrointestinal tract angiolipoma, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, intestine, ileocecal junction, colon, rectum angiolipomas. Colon angiolipoma with intussusception, as seen in this case, is rare and may require emergent surgical intervention.

Spontaneous Rectal Passage of a Colonic Angiolipoma After Colonoscopy With Forceps Biopsy

“…They are quite rare in the gastrointestinal tract, with only 7 cases of angiolipomas involving the colon having previously been reported in the literature. 1 Because of their benign nature, colonic angiolipomas are typically left untreated unless they are causing symptoms. 2,3 Like gastrointestinal lipomas, small angiolipomas (<2 cm) can often be resected with colonoscopy, whereas larger lesions are treated surgically.…”

Rare case of adult jejunojejunal intussusception secondary to angiolipoma

“…They commonly occur in young adults, and are usually located on the arms and trunk in subcutaneous tissues 2. They are rarely in the gastrointestinal tract and rarely greater than 2 cm in diameter 2 6. Patients with gastrointestinal angiolipomas can be asymptomatic or present with obstruction and bleeding.…”

“…Of the articles reviewed, only four cases presented with intussusception secondary to angiolipoma 2 4 6 7. However, this is the first reported case involving jejunojejunal intussusception secondary to angiolipoma.…”

Angiolipofibroma of the Right Colon : A Rare Type of Submucosal Polyp

“…Other differential diagnoses considered in such cases are neoplasms of adipose or vascular origin arising in the gastrointestinal tract. Nineteen angiolipomas were documented, one in the esophagus, three in the stomach, eight in the small intestine, and seven in the colon [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] . However, the usual histological appearance of angiolipoma is the branching networks of capillary-type proliferating vessels of focal fibrin thrombi; our case included vascular proliferation without fibrin thrombi formation.…”