Fact-sheet: Mesenteric panniculitis
Updated on 04/20/2018 at 5:38 PM
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Definition
Aseptic, non-tumoral inflammatory infiltration of the fatty tissue of the mesenteric root, less commonly the mesocolon or greater omentum.
Complications: chylous ascites, superior mesenteric vein thrombosis.
Association: lymphoma, Weber-Christian syndrome
Clinical features
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea, +/- vomiting
- Bowel habit changes
- Weight loss, low-grade fever
- An abdominal mass may be found
Laboratory findings
Elevated CRP
CT
- Infiltration with loss of the normal fat clarity at the root of the mesentery (misty mesentery sign)
- Patent superior mesenteric vascular axes, neither displaced nor encased
- Preserved perivascular fat halo
- Subcentimeter lymph nodes within the mesenteric infiltration
- Peripheral pseudocapsule
Differential diagnosis
- Lymphoma
- Retroperitoneal liposarcoma