Endometriosis of the Sigmoid Colon Mimicking Malignant Lesion

Abstract

Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. It is a benign pathology involving 15% of women of reproductive age. The sigmoid site represents 7% of endometriosis but it is the most frequent area in the digestive tract. We report two cases of colonic endometriosis in which the initial diagnosis suspected a malignant disease. Respectively, the patients were 31 and 48 years old. The first patient complained about abdominal pain with symptoms of intestinal obstruction and was classified after radiological examination as an intrasigmoid tumor with bladder adhesion. The second patient was undergone for a radiological examination because of a bowel obstruction syndrom and a mass in the sigmoid colon was suspected. In both cases, sigmoid colon resection was performed and histological diagnosis was sigmoid endometriosis. Sigmoid endometriosis is rarely diagnosed before surgical excision. Suspicious bowel obstruction and malignant origin lead to large surgical excision. Histological examination is important to establish the diagnosis.