Recognition of the fact that inflammatory processes ofttimes simulate malignant neoplasms to a remarkable degree is important, not only from a clinical and surgical standpoint, but also because of the fact that prognostic errors, so frequently made in this type of case, cause serious future embarrassment to the surgeon.
Well known examples of this similarity obtain in chronic inflammatory masses of the breast, chronic thyroiditis, Mikulicz's disease of the submaxillary glands and various other inflammatory tumors of the muscular, osseous and glandular systems. In no location in the body, however, is the clinical diagnosis more difficult or the prognosis of more importance than in inflammatory tumors of the intestinal tract, the majority of which are found in the colon.
The occurrence of these lesions was first reported by Virchow in 1853 when he described isolated inflammatory tumors of the large bowel. Mayo Robson1 reported several cases in 1908. Hamman