A CASE OF INTRASPLENIC PSEUDOANEURYSM AFTERBLUNT ABDOMINAL TRAUMA

Abstract

A 33-year-old woman was trasported to the hospital after being involved in a steering wheel injury. She was diagnosed as having injuries in the lateral segment of the liver and the upper pole of the spleen by CT and echo. All her vital signs were stable and she was treated conservatively.
A follow-up CT on hospital day 9 revealed a highly enhanced lesion in the spleen. It became larger and was diagnosed as pseudoaneurysm with thrombi on day 16. The patient had a successful arterial embolization on day 23. And after that she had an uneventful recovery. Ten months later, just a small low density lesion could be identified at the spleen.
Intraspleic pseudoaneurysm, one of the causes of delayed rupture of the spleen, can be managed with embolization by meticulous follow up before rupture, if conservative therapy or spleen preserving operation is selected for splenic injuries.