Inflammatory Pseudotumor of the Spleen: Report of a Case

Abstract

We report the case of an inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen in an asymptomatic 55-year-old woman, whose lesion was accidentally found and clinically misdiagnosed to be lymphoma. An inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen was histopathologically diagnosed following a splenectomy. This lesion is a benign, reactive, and inflammatory process and its etiopathogenesis still remains elusive. The preoperative diagnosis is difficult and the optimal management of the asymptomastic patient with the disease is unclear. This entity should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of splenic space-occupying lesions.

Inflammatory pseudotumor of the intrapancreatic accessory spleen: computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings

“…However, most lesions are detected accidentally and not usually diagnosed preoperatively. The prognosis is generally good [5]. Imaging findings have been reported by some investigators.…”

Inflammatory pseudotumour of the spleen associated with splenic tuberculosis

“…It has been hypothesised that IPT may have an autoimmune nature. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that, in some cases, IPT are associated with thrombocytopenia [6,7] . In addition, autoimmunity is suggested by the high plasmatic cell content in histologic specimens.…”

Inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen: report of a case with emphasis on contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings

“…However, they are relatively rare in the spleen, and the English-language literature includes only about 70 cases. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Although various theories have been advanced to explain the pathomechanism of this lesion (inflammation process, focal parenchymal necrosis with hemorrhage, disturbance of blood supply or bacterial or viral infection), 6 it remains undetermined. Like inflammatory pseudotumors arising from other organs, a splenic inflammatory pseudotumor is composed of foci of inflammatory cells, fibroblastic changes and granulomatous tissues.…”

“…Although the histologic patterns vary according to the predominant histologic component, the distinctive microscopic attributes of this lesion present no diagnostic difficulties for experienced pathologists. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] A review of the literature yielded information regarding the general tendencies of splenic inflammatory pseudotumors: (1) an asymptomatic splenic mass is the only clinical presentation; thus, the lesion is found incidentally by medical imaging performed during the workup for other diseases; (2) the tumor occurs most frequently in the fifth and sixth decades of life, and there is no sex predilection; and (3) it appears as a hypovascular or avascular solid mass. This tendency was seen in our case.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Furthermore, most previous reports of this tumor have dealt mainly with histologic studies. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] As a result, although ultrasonography (US) is the initial diagnostic tool for splenic exploration, reports of US findings for this tumor are relatively scarce. 5,8,11 This may account for the paucity of detailed information in basic US texts.…”