Case report reveals successful surgical resection of an obstructive Brunner's gland hamartoma in a 70-year-old female, highlighting diagnostic challenges with concurrent duodenal diverticula.
Brunner’s gland hamartoma is a rare mass-forming lesion that primarily affects the proximal duodenum. These lesions are often detected incidentally on imaging but may manifest as gastrointestinal bleeding or obstructive symptoms depending on size and anatomical location. Diagnosis is achieved by a combination of imaging modalities and pathological analysis but remains challenging due to their nonspecific imaging characteristics and often nondiagnostic biopsies. We report the case of a 70-year-old female patient referred to our institution for further management of a known duodenal bulb mass. Imaging redemonstrated the mass in the superior aspect of the duodenal bulb with an associated large diverticulum. Considering the patient’s worsening obstructive symptoms, a pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. A diagnosis of Brunner’s gland hamartoma was achieved on pathological analysis. We correlate this patient’s clinical presentation with the imaging findings and highlight important diagnostic concerns in the management of this rare duodenal lesion.
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Lugo-Fagundo et al. (2026) studied this question.
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