Case Report
Idiopathic Myointimal Hyperplasia of Mesenteric
Veins of the Ileum and Colon in a Patient with Crohn’s Disease:
A Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature
Sharon J. Song and Stuti G. Shroff
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Stuti G. Shrof; stuti.shrof@uphs.upenn.edu
Received 21 May 2017; Accepted 12 July 2017; Published 15 August 2017
Academic Editor: Hiroko Kuwabara
Copyright © 2017 Sharon J. Song and Stuti G. Shrof. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of the mesenteric veins (IMHMV) is a rare disease characterized by intimal smooth muscle
proliferation, leading to the thickening of small to medium-sized mesenteric veins. Tis vascular disease mimics infammatory
bowel disease (IBD) clinically and endoscopically, while showing ischemic mucosal changes without the classic features of IBD on
biopsy. Given the mixed picture, this entity is frequently misdiagnosed. Surgical resection of the diseased bowel segment reveals
the true etiology of the pathology and is curative. We describe a case of a 59-year-old man with a long-standing history of Crohn’s
disease refractory to medical therapy and status afer multiple small bowel resections. Te patient underwent a subtotal abdominal
colectomy with pathology showing dense, indurated mesenteric adipose tissue, signifcant muscularis propria hypertrophy, and
myointimal hyperplasia of the mesenteric veins in a peri-ileal and pericolic distribution, as confrmed by elastin stain. No evidence
of mucosal ischemic changes or fndings of chronicity or acuity were seen. IMHMV, a rare disease with a mixed presentation, poses
a signifcant diagnostic challenge to clinicians and pathologists.
1. Introduction
Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of the mesenteric veins
(IMHMV) is a poorly understood disease that poses a
diagnostic challenge to clinicians and pathologists. Clinically
and endoscopically, patients appear to have infammatory
bowel disease (IBD); however, biopsies show ischemic abnor-
malities without the classic features of IBD. Patients have
a relatively protracted clinical course refractory to medical
treatment, and it is not until the diseased bowel segment
is resected that histology reveals the underlying etiology.
IMHMV is characterized by thickened small and medium-
sized mesenteric veins with the hallmark feature of intimal
smooth muscle proliferation, leading to luminal occlusion
and mucosal ischemic changes. Herein, we present a case of
IMHMV in a 59-year-old man with a long-standing history
of Crohn’s disease.
2. Case Presentation
A 59-year-old man with a 30-year history of Crohn’s disease
was referred to our institution for ongoing symptoms of
bloating, abdominal pain, and alternating bouts of consti-
pation and diarrhea with occasional incontinence despite
treatment with infiximab and azathioprine. He had three
prior small bowel resections at the ileocecal junction for
intestinal obstruction with the last surgery performed 15
years ago. Te two prior resections, according to pathology
reports available for review, demonstrated changes consistent
with Crohn’s disease, including transmural infammation and
multiple infammatory pseudopolyps.
His most recent colonoscopy at the outside institution
showed patchy mild infammation from the rectum to
descending colon; however, surveillance was limited by adhe-
sions and strictures preventing passage of the colonoscope
Hindawi
Case Reports in Pathology
Volume 2017, Article ID 6793031, 6 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6793031