A CASE OF CALCIFYING SPLENIC PSEUDOCYST

The patient was a 58-year-old man who visited our hospital because a round calcified picture in the left epigastric region was found during a health examination. Abdominal CT and selective splenic arteriography led to a diagnosis of calcifying splenic cyst, and splenectomy was performed. Histopathololgical examination revealed a pseudocyst showing no endothelial cells on the cystic inner wall. Splenic cyst is a relatively rate disease. To our knowledge, only 207 cases have been found in Japan to date. The number of patients with true cyst and pseudocyst was almost the same, while true cyst tended to be more common in women. True cyst was more often encountered in younger age groups, whereas pseudocyst occurred relatively evenly in all age groups. As characteristic symptoms, true cyst was often associated with palpation of a painless mass, and pseudocyst with palpation of a painful mass. Etiological consideration disclosed a past history of bruise on the pleuroperitoneal region in 31% of the patients with pseudocyst. Calcification was found more often in cases of pseudocyst; particularly, severe calicification was common. For treatment, splenectomy was performed in 96.5% of patients.