Multiple Small Bowel Cavernous Hemangiomatosis: Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

A 79 year old female individual presented to the hospital and complained of 1 month melena and anemia due to chronic gastrointestinal bleeding because of cavernous hemangiomatosis of the small bowel. After undergoing an initial video laparoscopic jejunal–ileal resection surgery 7 days after first hospitalization, given the persistence of anemia, she underwent laparotomic duodenojejunal resection surgery again 2 months later. Multiple cavernous hemangiomatosis is a rare vascular disease (7–10% of all benign small bowel tumors), and it often manifests with bleeding, which may be occult or massive; more rarely, it manifests with intestinal occlusion or perforation. Diagnoses often require the use of multiple radiological and endoscopic methods; video capsule endoscopy has significantly increased the diagnostic rate. The gold standard of treatment is surgical resection, whenever possible, balancing the need for radicality with the possible metabolic consequences of massive small intestine resections.