Traumatic pseudocyst of the spleen

Four patients with pseudocyst of the spleen gave histories of abdominal tra uma. In one patient the pseudocyst had ruptured, necessitating emergency sp lenectomy 34 years after the original injury. In a second patient the pseud ocyst was discovered incidentally, and was managed by spleen-preserving exc ision; and the third and fourth presented with abdominal pain and had splen ectomy and spleen-preserving surgery, respectively. All patients with conservatively treated splenic injury are at risk of deve loping a pseudocyst of the spleen, and the lesion can be detected by comput ed tomography or ultrasound. When there are no symptoms the natural history is unknown; but if surgery is necessary, splenectomy can sometimes be avoi ded.