23670              BENIGN SUBMUCOUS FIBROMA OF THE SMALL BOWEL

This woman aged 52 had had epigastric pain 3.5 years previously.  She had also noticed a "hard ball" in the right side of the abdomen, tending to move about.  After an attack of pain she experienced frequent bowel actions.  The tumour was resected.

The specimen consists of 25 cms of the small bowel with an attached fringe of mesentery.  The mucosa throughout the specimen shows small scattered superficial ulcerated stercoral erosions.  At the lower end is a round, pale, smooth-surfaced spheroidal submucous tumour 4 cms in diameter, attached by a broad sessile base to the wall of the bowel.  There is hypertrophy of the muscle coat proximal to the tumour and stercoral ulceration is also present just above the mass.  Histology shows an innocent submucosal fibroma with some myxomatous degeneration.