Solitary caecal ulcer syndrome: our experience with this benign condition.

AIM

Solitary caecal ulcer syndrome is rare. We describe our experience of 10 patients with the condition.

METHOD

A prospectively collected database of patients undergoing colonoscopy or surgery with histology reporting a solitary caecal ulcer was reviewed from 1999 to 2008. Patients with known carcinoma of the colon, cytomegalovirus infection, amoebiasis, inflammatory bowel disease, immunosuppression and history of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use were excluded.

RESULTS

Ten patients were found to have a solitary caecal ulcer. All were of Chinese ethnicity, of median age 61 years. The most common presenting symptoms were haematochezia and right-sided abdominal pain. Histological findings included ulceration sharing some features of solitary rectal ulcer syndrome, but with differences to suggest a different aetiology.

CONCLUSION

Solitary caecal ulcer syndrome should be included in the differential diagnosis of lower gastrointestinal haemorrhage, right iliac fossa pain or when computed tomography imaging demonstrates caecal wall thickening. The diagnosis can only be made on histopathological examination.