Sclerosing mesenteritis (SM) is a rare fibro-inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that primarily affects the small bowel mesentery. The main goal of our research is to find the most specific CT symptoms of SM.

We have analyzed complaints, clinical manifestations and CT pictures of 518 patients (50-90 years old). In 167 cases, signs of pathological changes of the mesentery caused by inflammation of the intestine or pancreas (n = 54), lymph edema of mesentery (n = 37), after chemo-radiation treatment of cancer were found. In 76 cases the disease process of mesentery was primarily detected and proved to be SM.

Clinical manifestations of SM are unspecific. As a rule, there are also no any changes in blood tests, or their results are unspecific. The most distinctive features of SM were provided by CT images. CT features varied from an inconspicuous increase in the density of adipose tissue surrounding the mesenteric vessels (mainly due to chronic inflammation), to the formation of soft tissue in the projection of the root of the mesentery (prevalence of fibrosis). In the initial phase SM CT revealed increased density of mesenteric...

Initial clinical manifestation of SM is unspecific and CT is usually the first diagnostic method. CT symptoms are quite accurate for a confident diagnosis of SM in most cases when "misty mesentery" and "fat halo" signs are found in combination.

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