title: Treatment options for spontaneous and postoperative sclerosing mesenteritis.
abstract: Sclerosing mesenteritis is a rare pathology with only a few described cases in the literature. The etiology is unclear; however, several potential triggers, including abdominal surgery and abdominal trauma, have been discussed. The pathology includes a benign acute or chronic inflammatory process affecting the adipose tissue of the mesenterium. Despite it being a rare disease, sclerosing mesenteritis is an important differential diagnosis in patients after abdominal surgery or patients presenting spontaneously with signs of acute inflammation and abdominal pain. We present here three cases with sclerosing mesenteritis. In two cases, sclerosing mesenteritis occurred postoperatively after abdominal surgery. One patient was treated because of abdominal pain and specific radiological signs revealing spontaneous manifestation of sclerosing mesenteritis. So far there are no distinct treatment algorithms, so the patients were treated differently, including steroids, antibiotics and watchful waiting. In addition, we reviewed the current literature on treatment options for this rare disease.
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klasen
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Güller
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muff
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Candinas
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.affiliation: Jennifer Klasen, Department of Surgery, Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Spital Thurgau AG, CH-8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fahrner
keywords: Abdominal pain; Immunosuppression; Inflammation; Sclerosing mesenteritis; Surgery