Abstract
A very rare case of cyst formation of an intrapancreatic accessory spleen is reported. A 28-year-old male was admitted to the hospital because of epigastralgia and back pain. Tenderness at the right upper quadrant was present, but no mass was palpable on physical examination of the abdomen. Abdominal computed tomography and ultrasonography revealed a smooth-surfaced cyst with calcification at the tail of the pancreas. On endoscopic retrograde pancreaticography, there was no stenosis nor dilatation in the pancreatic duct, nor communication between the duct and the cyst.
Operation was performed under a diagnosis of pancreatic cyst. There was a cyst of 25 mm in diameter in the tail of the pancreas, and caudal pancreatectomy was performed. The content was grayish-brown fluid with low amylase value, and parasite, hair and bacteria were not recognized at all.
Histologically, an epidermoid cyst surrounded by thin layer of splenic tissue was in the pancrease, and the diagnosis of cyst formation in an intrapancreatic accessory spleen was made.
Accessory spleen was not rare. It is found in 10 percent of autopsies, and its 20 percent was in the pancreas tail. However, reports on its cyst formation has been only three in the world literature.
