R. Mund ( Leipzig )  

Viewable for logged on visitors (Log on)  

9 Years  

Female  

Abdomen-Spleen  

congenital  

9 year-old girl. Findings after conservative therapy for a dull abdominal trauma with splenic rupture.  

An accessory spleen is a round, iso-echogenic, homogenic and smooth structure and is seen as a normal varient mostly on the medial contour of the spleen, near the hilus or around the lower pole. This has no pathogenic relevance.  

<- view Ultrasound 1

Ultrasound 1: Longitudinal spleen with showing of an accessory spleen in the lower splenic third, near the hilus.




<- view Ultrasound 2

Ultrasound 2: Spleen and left kidney horizontally with accessory spleen.




<- view Ultrasound 3

Ultrasound 3: Spleen and accessory spleen in color doppler.

 

Imaging including endoscopy  

Lymph nodes (echogenic centers), intestines ( i.e. aperistaltic, filled with feces), lymphomas, tumors of the pancreas (solid tumors, hemorrhaging pseudocysts), renal and adrenal tumors, paragangliomas, phaochromocytomas.  

In about of 10% of the patients, an accessory spleen can be incidentally found. As a normal varient, it can be diagnosed at this frequency only with a good ultrasound machine and image reader. The frequency of which accessory spleens are diagnosed with ultrasound, can be a measure of the quality of the abdominal examination.

In a splenectomy with hematologic indications can have no improvement on symptoms if the accessory spleen is left. After such a splenectomy, the accessory spleen can hypertrophy, usually not larger than 5 cm. Hypertrophied accessory spleens can be seen as round structures, without the typical form of a spleen.  

N/A  

N/A  

N/A  

Accessory spleen, variation, normal variation, spleen, child, childhood, pediatric radiology  

R Mund. Accessory spleen as a normal variation. PedRad [serial online] vol 2, no. 8.
URL: www.PedRad.info/?search=20020827150244