24197              MESENTERIC FIBROMA

The patient was a woman aged 62 with vague abdominal symptoms.  A mass was felt and resected.

The specimen consists of 6 cms of the terminal ileum together with the caecum and 30 cms of the ascending and transverse colon.  A spheroidal tumour measuring 9 x 7 x 7 cms arises from the wall of the colon and extends into the mesenteric fat.  The mucosa is intact and is stretched smoothly over the inner surface of the mass.  The cut surface is pale, fibrous and whorled.  Histology shows inactive fibrous tissue with few mitoses.  There is no palisading.