Chylolymphatic Mesenteric Cysts Presenting with Acute Intestinal Obstruction: 3 Case Reports

A Chylolymphatic cyst, as the name suggests, is a cyst the that contains both chyle and lymph, usually presents within the mesentery lined with a thin endothelium or mesothelium. The incidence is between 1:100,000 to 1:250,000 in hospital admissions. Chylolymphatic cysts are rare intra-abdominal tumours, may occur in the mesentery of the gastrointestinal tract from the duodenum to the rectum. 25% of the mesenteric cyst occur in children up to 10 year of age and constitute 7.3% to 9.5% of all abdominal cysts.

Herein, we report 3 cases of Chylolymphatic mesenteric cysts in paediatric age group of 6-10 years and all are symptomatic. All three cases presented with acute intestinal obstruction due to volvulus or twist of multilocular cysts and treated by explorative laparotomy, segmental bowel resection along with the excision of the mesenteric cystic mass and end to end anastomosis of the small bowel.