Disseminated peritoneal leiyomyomatosis in an 18-year-old girl

Disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis (DPL) is a rare hormone-dependent disease entity occurring primarily in women of reproductive age group subjected to an altered hormonal milieu. The lesion is characterized by numerous subperitoneal nodules of benign smooth muscle proliferations which usually mimic the macroscopic appearance of metastatic malignancy. In 70% of cases, the underlying cause of hormonal alteration is pregnancy and in the remaining cases, the causes are oral contraceptives or hormone-secreting tumors. This indicates that endocrine factors are of importance in the development of this condition. This is an unusual case, hitherto unreported, of DPL with multiple uterine leiomyoma, occurring in a 18-year-old girl, who had previously undergone several laparoscopic surgical resections of uterine leiyomyomas. Her disease was unrelated to pregnancy or to any other obvious sources of hormonal elevation.