[Panniculitis mesenterialis, a rare disease].

Panniculitis mesenterialis is an illness of the mesenterium of the small intestine and is not familiar to all clinical physicians. The rare reports in the literature mostly describe a good outcome with a few cases ending lethal. Pathologists paying attention to detect panniculitis during postmortem examination report about an incidence of about 1%. This discrepancy may be based on the fact that only extended changes of the mesenterial fat tissue cause symptoms. The pathological base consists in extensive necrosis of fat tissue with fibrosis of the mesenterium. Aetiology is unknown, diagnosis is usually made during laparotomy. There is no specific treatment, prognosis is generally good.