Recurrent abdominal pain in a woman with a wandering spleen
Tan, H.H.; Ooi, L.L.P.L.; Tan, D.; Tan, C.K.
Singapore Medical Journal 48(4): e122-e124
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-5675 PMID: 17384868 Document Number: 605616
A 28-year-old Malay woman presented with recurrent abdominal pain for five years. She had delivered her child seven months earlier. She was found to have bicytopenia, with a haemoglobin level of 7.9 g/dL and a platelet count of 85 x 10(9)/L. Computed tomography revealed a wandering spleen. Complications of a wandering spleen, for which splenectomy is advocated, include functional asplenia (due to torsion of the splenic pedicle), splenic infarction or splenic vessel thrombosis. A splenectomy was performed and at operation, splenomegaly with a long mesentery was found. Splenic histology was negative for malignancy. The bicytopenia resolved postoperatively, and she remains well.