A Fatal Case of Peliosis of the Liver and Spleen

Abstract

New Haven, CT 06510 1. Austrian R, Gold J: Pneumococcal bacteremia with especial reference to bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia. Ann Intern Med 60:759-776, 1964.2. Groff DB, Randolph JG, Blades B: Empyema in childhood. JAMA 195:164-166, 1966. 3. Sahn DJ, Allen HD, Goldberg SJ, et al: Pediatric echocardiography: A review of its clinical utility.

Splenic peliosis associated with rupture in a renal transplant patient

“…Peliosis hepatis was also invariably present and recent reports confirm such an association (Taxy, 1978;Benjamin and Shunk, 1978;Lacson, Berman and Neiman, 1979). Taxy (1978) has reported 2 cases of splenic peliosis without hepatic involvement and it is likely that the present case conforms to isolated splenic peliosis, although a liver biopsy was not performed.…”

“…Suggested aetiological factors in the development of peliosis have included anabolic steroids and azathioprine (Taxy, 1978;Benjamin and Shunk, 1978;Lacson, et al, 1979;Degott et al, 1978) and it is perhaps relevant that the patient had received both these drugs. An interesting finding in this case was the heavy deposition of haemosiderin in the spleen.…”

Fatal hepatic haemorrhage in a child?peliosis hepatis versus maltreatment

“…Hepatomegaly or elevation of transaminase levels may occur [10,13] but the roentgenographic diagnosis is difficult [9,11,14] and severe complications such as acute hepatic failure or intraperitoneal haemorrhage occur infrequently so that the diagnosis is mostly an incidental finding at autopsy [13,14]. In children, hepatic haemorrhaging from peliosis is an extremely rare event [2,6,14] and to our knowledge this is the youngest casualty from peliosis hepatis reported so far.…”

Peliosis of the spleen

“…It is a potentially life-threatening condition, with at least two deaths directly attributable to exsanguination from rupture of a peliotic lesion on the surface of the spleen [4,5].…”