2019 Volume 39 Issue 6 Pages 1175-1177
A wandering spleen is a rare clinical condition caused by absence or underdevelopment of the suspensory ligaments, allowing the spleen to be mobile in the abdomen. The wandering spleen is disposed to splenic torsion along the vascular pedicle, leading to splenomegaly and splenic infarction. When an infarction is suspected, due to volvulus of the wandering spleen, an emergency operation is necessary. In such cases, splenectomy is the most common procedure, compared to splenic salvage methods. Considering the life-threatening risk of overwhelming post-splenectomy infection, however, the splenic salvage operation is still preferable. We present herein the case of a 13-years-old boy with a volvulus associated with a wandering spleen, who underwent an urgent laparoscopic splenopexy. The patient made very good prognosis and he was discharged on the 4th post-operative day. This technique can be performed by any surgeon who has mastered the basic skill of laparoscopic surgery. This approach may therefore be useful to decrease the number of unnecessary splenectomies for wandering spleens and to avoid the possibility of overwhelming post-splenectomy infection.