Sanguinamento intestinale cronico occulto in una ragazza di 14 anni. Diagnosi di linfangioma cavernoso dell’intestino tenue con videocapsula endoscopica

Occult lower gastrointestinal bleeding may be due to numerous conditions: a rare cause is small intestinal lymphangioma. The Authors describe a case of a 14 year-old girl who presented with severe anaemia, no abdominal pain and no rectal bleeding. She had a five-year history of irondeficient anaemia of unknown origin that required periodic blood transfusions. She underwent extensive workup including upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, ileo-colonscopy, abdomen TC, and ultrasound scan and their results were all negative. Small bowel capsule endoscopy was eventually performed and it disclosed the presence of a bleeding small bowel lymphangioma. The lesion was excised with laparoscopic surgery. Capsule endoscopy should be considered as the first-line investigation for obscure-occult small bowel bleeding.