Post-traumatic pseudocyst of the spleen: Sclerotherapy with ethanol

We report a case of successful percutaneous treatment of a chronic post-tra umatic splenic pseudocyst using alcohol as the sclerosing agent. A 26-year- old man presented with a symptomatic cystic mass located in the spleen. Asp iration of 300 ml of fluid was only temporarily effective, and therefore a drainage catheter was placed 3 days later. After histopathologic and microb iologic exclusion of a malignant or infectious origin, local sclerotherapy with alcohol was performed because of recurrence after percutaneous drainag e. This therapy was repeated six times within 2 weeks. Two weeks later, the remaining volume was determined to be 16 ml. Six months after treatment th e cyst was no longer visible. To our knowledge this is the first case of a chronic post-traumatic splenic cyst treated with alcohol. Percutaneous scle rotherapy of a symptomatic post-traumatic splenic pseudocyst may be an alte rnative to surgical treatment.