Splenic rupture caused by pancreatic pseudocyst successfully treated by endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage

Abstract

A 43-year-old man was admitted to a local hospital because of acute left abdominal pain. Chronic alcoholic pancreatitis and a 10-cm pancreatic pseudocyst in the tail of the pancreas had been found 5 years previously. He had not stopped drinking alcohol since then. On admission, laboratory tests revealed severe anemia, and contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed extravasation in the pancreatic pseudocyst. The spleen was retracted by the pancreatic pseudocyst, and its configuration was indistinct. The patient was diagnosed with acute bleeding within the pancreatic pseudocyst and splenic rupture. He was transferred to our university hospital on an emergency basis. Abdominal angiography of the splenic artery was immediately performed, but the bleeding point was not found. Although the bleeding stopped spontaneously, an infection of the pancreatic pseudocyst and a splenic hematoma subsequently developed. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided pseudocyst drainage was performed. The infection improved after the drainage, and the size of the pancreatic pseudocyst and splenic hematoma decreased. Five months later, the pancreatic pseudocyst had almost disappeared, and the splenic hematoma was even smaller. We herein report a rare case of splenic rupture caused by a pancreatic pseudocyst. Although the patient’s condition became complicated by severe infection, treatment by endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage was successful.