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A Rare Cause of Chronic Abdominal Pain: Recurrent Sub-torsions of an Accessory Spleen

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Abstract

Accessory spleen is defined as one, two, or three nodules of additional ectopic splenic parenchyma hung by a vascular pedicle generally near the spleen. Despite a relatively high frequency (from 10 to 30 % of the population based on autopsy studies), most accessory spleens are asymptomatic. Although cases of accessory spleen were clearly described in the literature, this perplexing diagnosis is often delayed and rarely made preoperatively. We repot episodic recurrences of abdominal pain in a 66-year-old man attributed to iterative sub-torsions of an accessory spleen, as well as a comprehensive review of the literature.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the patient for providing permission to publish his information and Emmanuel Schaeffer and Jocelyne Wuibout for the proofreading of this manuscript.

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There are none.

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Patient consent and permission to publish have been obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General, Digestive and Endocrine Surgery, Hôpital Robert-Debré, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Reims, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France

    Martin Lhuaire, Daniele Sommacale, Tullio Piardi, Philippe Grenier, Claude Avisse & Reza Kianmanesh

  2. Department of Anatomy, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51 rue Cognacq-Jay, 51095, Reims, France

    Martin Lhuaire & Claude Avisse

  3. Department of General, Digestive and Urologic Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Général Auban-Moët, Épernay, France

    Philippe Grenier

  4. Department of Pathology, Hôpital Robert-Debré, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Reims, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France

    Marie-Danièle Diebold

Authors
  1. Martin Lhuaire
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  2. Daniele Sommacale
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  3. Tullio Piardi
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  4. Philippe Grenier
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  5. Marie-Danièle Diebold
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  6. Claude Avisse
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  7. Reza Kianmanesh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Lhuaire.

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Lhuaire, M., Sommacale, D., Piardi, T. et al. A Rare Cause of Chronic Abdominal Pain: Recurrent Sub-torsions of an Accessory Spleen. J Gastrointest Surg 17, 1893–1896 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-013-2239-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-013-2239-9

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