A rare clinic presentation of abdominal pain: rupture of splenic artery aneurysm: a case report

Abstract

BackgroundSplenic artery aneurysms (SAA) are uncommon but the most common visceral artery aneurysm. Splenic artery aneurysms are important to recognize because up to 25% may be complicated by rupture and the mortality rate after rupture is between 25% and 70%.Case reportWe present a patient who have abdominal pain. Previously healthy 22-year-old female admitted to emergency department with abdominal pain. Her physical examination reveals only left upper quadrant tenderness. Suddenly she developed hypovolemic shock. On emergent laparotomy massive blood collection within peritoneal cavity and retroperitoneal space at the left upper quadrant was detected. The source of bleeding was evident as rupture of splenic artery aneurysm. Splenectomy was performed following the ligation of splenic artery proximal to lesion. On the tenth day she was discharged from the hospital with complete recovery.ConclusionIt is important to remember rupture of splenic artery aneurysm in patients with abdominal pain and hypovolemic shock status.

Spontaneous rupture of the splenic artery aneurysm: a rare clinical presentation of acute abdomen.

“…[3,5] Rupture and bleeding result in sudden abdominal pain and even in rapidly progressing hypovolemic shock; as it wasthe case presented here. [6,7] In fact, SAA is a rare diagnosis in the emergency department with a prevalence of approximately 0.011%. [1] They are usually small but aneursyms as large as 30 cm have been reported.…”

Abdominal pain and collapse in the emergency department

“…The occurrence of this condition in a young woman, with no associated medical history and negative laboratory testing for pregnancy, is rare with only a handful of case reports describing the presentation 1 2…”

Trauma associated splenic artery aneurysms: an analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank

“…Mortality following rupture is generally between 25% and 70%. 4,5 Therefore, it is very important to recognize these lesions, especially in settings where there is a significant risk of rupture as intervention could be lifesaving.…”

“…1,4,6 Currently, there is limited information in the literature on SAA in the setting of trauma. A few isolated case reports and case series from single institutions which do not primarily focus on trauma have been published, 3-5,7-10 but thus far, there exist no studies using a national database to describe trauma associated SAAs.…”