2007 Volume 40 Issue 5 Pages 639-644
An accessory spleen is found in 10-30% of necropsies. We report a very rare case of rupture accessory spleen rupture caused by torsion. A 32-year-old man suffering severe left abdominal pain was found in laboratory findings to have progressive anemia and in computed tomography and angiography to have a mass 15cm in diameter in the bursa omentalis, with the main artery fed from the splenic artery. Preoperative diagnosis was a ruptured splenic tumor. On laparotomy, we found an accessory spleen 7cm in diameter in front of the pancreas. The stalk derived from the splenic artery and vein was twisted 720 degrees. Rupture of the accessory spleen had caused abdominal pain and anemia, so we resected the accessory spleen. Infarction and rupture of the accessory spleen caused by torsion, although very rare, should be taken into account as a differential diagnosis in acute abdomen in the young.
