Lymphangioma of the lesser omentum associated with abdominal esophageal carcinoma: report of a case.

A case of lymphangioma of the lesser omentum associated with abdominal esophageal carcinoma is described herein. The patient was a 54-year-old man who initially presented with dysphagia. Gastrointestinal fiberscopy (GIF) revealed an esophageal carcinoma and abdominal computed tomography (CT) detected a 3-cm, low-density lesion on the median aspect of the fornix, which was diagnosed as a metastatic lymph node. A radical operation was performed to resect the esophageal carcinoma, and a cystic lesion the size of a hen's egg was found in the lesser omentum of the stomach. The cystic lesion, which contained serous fluid, was unilocular and attached to the serosa of the stomach. The histological diagnosis was omental lymphangioma. Our review of the Japanese literature revealed 29 cases of lesser omental lymphangioma, but only two of these were associated with an advanced malignant tumor. Although the etiology of omental lymphangioma is unclear, the findings in our case suggested that obstruction of the lymphatic vessels invaded by the esophageal carcinoma may be one of the causes of this disease.