Chronic diarrhea and abdominal mass: A case of intestinal lymphangiectasia.

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a protein-losing enteropathy caused by congenital malformation or secondary obstruction of intestinal lymphatic vessels, which usually causes excessive protein loss in the intestine and malabsorption syndrome. Patients may be asymptomatic or complain edema, diarrhea, hypoalbuminemia and other deficiencies. We presented the case of a 70 years old women who came to our Gastroenterological clinic for diarrhea. Blood and stool tests were within the normal ranges, except for a mild eosinophilia and a high C-reactive protein. The ultrasound scan showed a cystic retropancreatic mass and the following computed tomography scan confirmed the presence of the mass without sure continuity with the dorsal pancreas. The fine needle aspiration (FNA) performing during an echoendoscopy, permitted the complete aspiration of the fluid and the cytological analysis that showed numerous lymphocytes. The diagnosis of intestinal lymphangiectasia was done and the patient started the medium chain triglycerides diet with significant improvement of her symptoms.Key