Pathologic Rupture of the Spleen as the Presenting Symptom of Primary Splenic Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Abstract

Pathologic splenic rupture is defined as the spontaneous rupture of a diseased spleen and is quite rare. It is usually associated with oncologic, infectious, and hematologic diseases and more seldom with other rare causes. Pathologic splenic rupture related to hematologic malignancy seems to be rare with only 136 cases reported from 1861 until 1996 and a few cases thereafter. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia are most frequently reported followed by chronic myeloid leukemia and lymphoblastic acute leukemia. However, even in cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pathologic splenic rupture as the presenting symptom of the disease is rare as is the presence of primary splenic lymphoma. Conservative treatment is not an option, while operative intervention and emergency splenectomy is the only feasible treatment. We present a very rare case of pathologic rupture of primary splenic lymphoma which was the presenting symptom of the disease.