INTRASPLENIC POSTTRAUMATIC PSEUDOANEURYSM - ECHO COLOR DOPPLER DIAGNOSIS

Nonsurgical conservative treatment of blunt splenic trauma has gained widespread consensus in the last few years. It has been demonstrated t hat 60% of patients with blunt abdominal trauma with spleen lesion ach ieve the best therapy by using conservative therapy. Despite the accur acy of ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography in detecting and g rading the spleen lesions, the evolution of the lesion is often unexpe cted. In 15 to 30% of patients, a two-stage splenic rupture may be exp ected within 2 weeks. Delayed complications, such as splenic abscesses and pseudoaneurysms of the splenic artery and its branches, have been observed. To prevent complications, a short follow-up has been schedu led for these patients by using US and US color Doppler. The authors p ropose routine echo Doppler evaluation for all patients affected by in traparenchymal hematoma after blunt abdominal trauma.