Ectopic pelvic spleen
P. M. Hatfield, M. E. Clouse and B. Cady
We are reporting the first, to our knowledge, ectopic pelvic spleen
demonstrated preoperatively by means of a liver-spleen scan and a selective
splenic arteriogram. Symptoms, consisting of crampy pain in the lower part
of the abdomen exacerbated by standing or stooping, were relieved by
splenectomy in this 19-year-old woman. Splenopexy, which has been advocated
in the past, has no place in the management of this rare and interesting
congenital variant. Laxity or failure of development of the phrenicosplenic
and gastrosplenic ligaments is thought to account for the splenic
descensus.
