Case reports Localized vasculitis of the gastrointestinal tract: a case report and literature review

Localized gastrointestinal vasculitis is a rare condition. It may be observed as an incidental unexpected patho- logic fi nding at the time of biopsy of an abdominal mass or may present as unexplained abdominal pain with or without unexplained lower gas- trointestinal bleeding. In this report we describe a new case of localized polyarteritis nodosa with involvement of peripancreatic middle-sized blood vessels. A literature review of cases of localized gastrointestinal vasculi- tis was also conducted. A major point of concern is whether a single organ vasculitis of the gastrointestinal tract is actually a localized gastrointestinal vasculitis or simply an initial mani- festation of a more severe systemic vasculitis. Due to this, in cases of lo- calized gastrointestinal vasculitis a complete evaluation of the patient to exclude the presence of a systemic a potentially threatening systemic vas- culitis is required.