Cystic lymphangioma of the colon: ultrasonographic and computed tomographic features

Cystic lymphangioma is a rare benign tumour of the gastrointestinal tract. The authors describe a 52-year-old woman with cystic lymphangioma in the ascending colon. Ultrasonographically, the lesion was compressible and anechoic and showed posterior acoustic enhancement. Doppler analysis showed no flow within the lesion. On computed tomography the lesion appeared as a focal thickening of the colonic wall with attenuation values of 6 to 10 Hounsfield units. The lesion extended along the wall and did not invade the adjacent fat. It could not be located during endoscopy or laparotomy and was eventually located for resection with intraoperative ultrasonography.