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Multimodality imaging of splenic lesions and the role of non-vascular, image-guided intervention

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Abstract

Splenic lesions are often incidentally detected on abdominal-computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and these can pose a diagnostic challenge in patients with suspected or known malignancy. This review will discuss the multimodality imaging features of various benign and malignant splenic pathologies including trauma, infection, infarct, granulomatous disease, benign neoplasms such as hemangioma, hamartoma, and littoral cell angioma, cystic entities such as peliosis, splenic cysts, and pseudocysts, and malignant processes such as metastasis, lymphoma, angiosarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma. While several of these splenic pathologies have characteristic imaging features that are helpful in diagnosis, others have nonspecific findings. In such clinical dilemmas, image-guided intervention may be essential, and we therefore discuss the role of non-vascular, image-guided splenic interventions for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The radiologist can play a key part in the clinical diagnosis and management of splenic lesions, and therefore a thorough knowledge of the imaging features of splenic lesions and a thoughtful approach to their management is crucial.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Nilesh Gupta, MBBS, DNB (Raipur, India) for providing CT image in Fig. 12.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Division of Abdominal Imaging, University of Michigan Health System, 1500 East Medical Center Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Kara Gaetke-Udager, Ashish P. Wasnik, Ravi K. Kaza, Mahmoud M. Al-Hawary, Katherine E. Maturen, Shadi F. Azar & Isaac R. Francis

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Health System, 1500 East Medical Center Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Aaron M. Udager

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  1. Kara Gaetke-Udager
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Correspondence to Ashish P. Wasnik.

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Gaetke-Udager, K., Wasnik, A.P., Kaza, R.K. et al. Multimodality imaging of splenic lesions and the role of non-vascular, image-guided intervention. Abdom Imaging 39, 570–587 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-014-0080-6

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