Cardiac Tamponade and Splenic Littoral Cell Angioma: An Unusual Presentation of a Very Rare Disease

Littoral cell angioma (LCA) is a rare benign vascular splenic tumor that can evolve, potentially, into a malignant form. It can be found incidentally in the majority of cases during ultrasound (US) or other imaging exams, performed for other problems. It has not a (US) or computed tomography (CT) pathognomonic pattern so diagnosis is made by histological and immunochemical analysis. This is a case of LCA discovered incidentally in an 81-year-old woman admitted to our hospital for dyspnea due to cardiac tamponade. The splenic disease was discovered during an US abdomen study performed to reveal a source of infection. Our patient was evaluated also with CT study that confirmed the presence of splenic lesions but could not make a diagnosis. The patient underwent a splenectomy that showed histological and immunochemical evaluations consistent with presence of LCA.