Clinical and pathologic overlap in nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related small bowel diaphragm disease and the neuromuscular and vascular hamartoma of the small bowel

Diaphragm disease (DD) is a radiographically subtle cause, of small bowel obstruction and is part of the spectrum of diseases associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug injury. The neuromuscular and vascular hamartoma (NMVH) is a non-epithelial hamartomatous, submucosally based proliferation of mature submucosal elements capable of causing small bowel obstruction. The authors report two patients in whom the clinical setting and gross pathology are that of DD, but the histologic characterization is identical to that described for NMVH. It is probable that in some patients the two diseases overlap so that some patients readily fit the criteria for both entities.