Strangulation of the caecum by a pedunculated lipoma in a Rocky Mountain Horse gelding

Abstract

A 19-year-old Rocky Mountain Horse gelding was presented for emergency evaluation of colic. A pedunculated lipoma was found to be strangulating the caecum and ileocaecal junction at surgery. Following the resolution of the incarceration, it was found that the pedicle originated on the jejunal mesentery, but the stalk did not appear long enough to have formed a half-hitch around both the caecum and ileum. The horse was euthanised due to complete caecal devitalisation. A second pedunculated lipoma was identified at necropsy, located on the transverse colon with an area of ischaemia on the mesenteric pedicle (the abnormal stalk of tissue connecting the lipoma to the colonic mesentery), consistent with pressure from being entwined with the jejunal mesenteric pedicle. This report is the first to describe caecal and ileal incarceration and strangulation by a pedunculated lipoma in a horse.