Minilaparotomy approach for removal of a large colonic lipoma: report of two cases.

A minimally invasive surgical approach should be employed to resect symptomatic colonic lipomas whenever possible. We report two cases of large colonic lipomas that were successfully removed using a minimally invasive minilaparotomy approach. Patient 1 was a 53-year-old man with a 3.8-cm symptomatic submucosal lipoma in the ascending colon and patient 2 was a 57-year-old woman with a 4.2-cm symptomatic submucosal lipoma in the transverse colon. Both lipomas were successfully removed through a 5-7-cm minilaparotomy. Normal bowel function returned quickly without any postoperative complications. These case reports demonstrate that the minilaparotomy approach is a suitable alternative to conventional laparotomy to remove a large colonic lipoma.