[Right abdominal colonic masses. Recent diagnostic and therapeutic advances: personal experience]

The authors, referring to their experience, make a review of colic pathological features presenting as right abdominal mass. Despite of modern diagnostic means--specially radiological investigations: ultrasonographic and CT scanning--accurate clinical examination still plays a role in the initial assessment and to address diagnostic procedures. Diagnosis may be difficult as the right colon is hardly accessible even to present investigative means. US scanning has proved to be useful, in the surgeon's hands, for timely detection of the lesion and in monitoring its evolution. Many diseases must be considered in the diagnosis of a right colon mass and a few rare too: Meckel diverticolitis, carcinoid, vermiform appendix pseudomyxoma, amebic granuloma, Kaposi's sarcoma. Treatment is still an intriguing question, depending on many factors: site, kind and variety of the diseases showing as right abdomen mass, difficulty in early diagnosis, risk of misdiagnosing, shortage of series reported in literature and the absence of multicenter studies.