A Case of Colonic Hemangioma Growing up to be Operated after 8-Year Endoscopic Observation

A 57 year-old male has been followed up for chronic hepatitis for 18 years. On March 1987, at the age of 50, the barium enema examination showed a elevated lesion about 1.5 cm in diameter at splenic flexure of the descending colon. The surface of the lesion was smooth, suggesting a submucosal tumor. Endoscopic examination revealed a dark bluish elevated lesion at the splenic flexure, and colonic hemangioma was suspected. The size of the lesion did not change for 7 years. However, on June 1994, the lesion grew up to about 3 cm in diameter, and angiography revealed a hypervascular staining at the left branch of middle colonic artery, suspecting hemangioma or arterio-venous malformation. Partial colonic resection was performed on December 1994, and histological examination of the lesion revealed a cavernous hemangioma. This case report described the first case of the colonic hemangima whose growing process had been endoscopically observed for a long-term period.