Diffuse colorectal angiodysplasia misdiagnosed preoperatively as ulcerative colitis in a child: report of a case.

Angiodysplasia is primarily a disease of the elderly, and it is rarely encountered in the pediatric population. We report a case of diffuse colorectal angiodysplasia, diagnosed postoperatively in a 13-year-old boy who underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic total proctocolectomy and ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA) for assumed corticosteroid-resistant ulcerative colitis. The findings of preoperative repeated colonoscopies and biopsies had been consistent with active colitis. Distinguishing ulcerative colitis from angiodysplasia is not usually difficult in patients with rectal bleeding. To our knowledge, this is the fi rst case report of such a challenging diagnostic problem.