Chronic recurrent abdominal pain in childhood due to mesenterium ileocolicum commune. Two cases with normal rotation of the intestine.

Mesenterium ileocolicum commune with normal rotation of the midgut is described in an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. Both had had recurrent abdominal pain for several years before the diagnosis was made. Barium enema showed the entire colon to be located in the middle and left part of the abdomen. Operation showed displacement of the right colon due to the mesenterium ileocolicum commune. The boy also had congenital bands across the duodenum, which could explain previous episodes of vomiting and delayed emptying of the stomach after a barium meal. The girl had only rudimentary transduodenal bands. Fixation of the right colon, lysis of duodenal bands and appendectomy were performed in both cases. Postoperatively both children have been asymptomatic. These two cases, with a common ileocolic mesentery and normal midgut rotation, demonstrate a rare abnormality of intestinal fixation during the third embryonic stage of development. Diagnosis of the cause underlying the chronic recurrent abdominal pain was delayed, but the patients were eventually cured by operation.