We present a case of a patient, undergoing imaging for an unrelated presentation, whose adolescent abdominal trauma had caused an unrecognised disseminated intra-abdominal splenosis, resulting in an imaging presentation on CT that suggested intra-abdominal malignancy. The lack of correlative symptoms of disseminated malignancy, in addition to imaging findings suggesting previous upper abdominal trauma, led to a suggestion that the intra-abdominal lesion might represent spleen tissue. A denatured red cell scan with radio-labelled technetium-99m, allowed this tissue to be confirmed as splenic in nature, and an invasive, and potentially risky biopsy was averted.
Keywords: haematology (incl blood transfusion); radiology.
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