Childhood mesenteric cyst: A rare intra-abdominal entity with literature review

Mesenteric cysts are uncommon intra-abdominal benign masses that appear in childhood with varying degrees of clinical manifestations, ranging from being asymptomatic to presenting as an acute abdomen. The diagnosis is made incidentally during the work-up for other abdominal pathologies such as acute appendicitis, bowel obstruction, etc. The treatment is mostly surgical and varies depending on the clinical type of the lesion.

A 26-month-old child was referred to our teaching hospital's pediatric surgery department with an abdominal mass. The patient had previously complained of constipation and been treated symptomatically with laxatives. Ultrasonography reported ovarian cysts confirmed by computerized tomography scanning (as a misdiagnosis report of an ovarian cyst instead of a mesenteric cyst), done outside the hospital in a private diagnostic center.

The patient was prepared for operation and during the surgical procedure, she was found to have a duplex cyst, which was mostly incorporated in the mesentery of the distal 1/3 of the transverse mesocolon. The cyst was enucleated through a lower midline laparotomy incision without bowel resection and anastomosis. The histopathological analysis of the specimen confirmed a mesenteric cyst.

Mesenteric cysts are rare lesions in children and should be considered when approaching any intra-abdominal mass. Except for the rare cases where intestinal resection and/or partial cyst excision are required, all mesenteric cysts can be excised while preserving intestinal integrity and vascular supply.