Abstract
A man in his thirties was admitted to our hospital because of abruptly occurring pain in the left hypochondrium. Although he had no episode of trauma, a computed tomography showed an extravasation of the contrast medium in the upper pole of the spleen. Since his vital signs were stable, we selected to perform a transcatheter arterial embolization, which achieved hemostasis of splenic arterial branches. Despite not having any symptoms of heart failure, an echocardiography revealed cardiac dysfunction, after which he was diagnosed as having dilated cardiomyopathy. Laboratory data showed no evidence of a viral infection or other specific causes of non-traumatic splenic rupture. In cases of splenic rupture without history of trauma, the transcatheter arterial embolization for hemostasis could be an initial treatment strategy, which might give us enough time to make the right decision for the spontaneous rupture of the spleen.
