Wandering spleen and splenic torsion associated with upper respiratory tract infection
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Rashmi N. Samarasinghe; Bogdan Protyniak; Colin Bethel
- Source
- Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports. (6):129-131
- Subject
- medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.medical_treatment
Splenectomy
Infarction
Spleen
Acute abdomen
medicine
Splenopexy
business.industry
Wandering spleen
fungi
Torsion (gastropod)
medicine.disease
Spleen torsion
Surgery
Upper respiratory tract infection
medicine.anatomical_structure
Spleen infarction
Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
medicine.symptom
business
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2213-5766
Torsion of a wandering spleen is a rare cause of acute abdomen in pediatric patients. Congenital absence of the splenic ligaments predisposes the spleen to axial rotation around its vascular pedicle and may lead to infarction. Computed tomography and/or ultrasound are valuable in making a timely diagnosis. Detorsion and splenopexy permit splenic salvage, potentially reducing late post-splenectomy associated complications. We report the case of a 9-year-old female with an upper respiratory tract infection and infarction of a wandering spleen. We review the literature on the management of this condition and hypothesize that vigorous coughing associated with upper respiratory infections may have caused the wandering spleen to undergo axial rotation around its pedicle.