Splenectomy and cure of thrombocytopenia. Present for 62 years in a patient with complete situs inversus.

Abstract

Only one case of surgical removal of a right-sided spleen has been reported. Harbison, Patton and Moyer1published the case of a patient with a spontaneously ruptured right-sided spleen in 1954. This patient was thought to have a ruptured appendix, although it was known that he had a thoracic and abdominal situs inversus. We have recently seen a patient with complete situs inversus who had an elective splenectomy for thrombocytopenic purpura. This case is unusual in that both the thrombocytopenic purpura and the situs inversus were diagnosed in early childhood, but the spleen was not removed until 62 years later. Splenectomy was done at this time only because the patient had a vascular tumor of the bladder which demanded surgical treatment. Anatomic Review of Situs Inversus True situs inversus is an anatomic anomaly in which either the abdominal or the thoracic viscera, or both, assume a reversed or mirror