Inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen. Report of two cases with a review of the literature

Abstract

This study reports two cases of inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen. The first case was a 57-year-old woman in whom the splenic mass was an incidental finding during evaluation for an acute abdomen due to a perforated, lithiasic gallbladder. The mass in the spleen measured 12.7 cm in greatest dimension. The second case was of a 46-year-old woman with a palpable, left upper quadrant mass. A computed tomography scan revealed a splenic mass and the spleen was removed. The mass measured 12 cm in greatest dimension. In a review of the literature, 13 examples of splenic inflammatory pseudotumor were reported. The age range was 19 to 75 years, with a median age of 50 years. The splenic lesions were either discovered incidentally or manifested by left upper quadrant discomfort and/or mass. Inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen, although rare, is being increasingly recognized and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of mass lesions of the spleen.