Intrahepatic splenosis: imaging features

We report a patient who presented with asymptomatic focal liver lesions and in whom a diagnosis of intrahepatic splenosis was made. This rare conditio n mostly occurs in patients who previously underwent splenic trauma or surg ery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics suggesting this diagn osis are described. The lesions were mainly hypointense on T1- and hyperint ense on T2-weighted images. After administration of small iron oxide partic les (SPIO-Endorem), the lesions remained slightly hyperintense relative to the hypointense liver parenchyma but showed a 50% loss in signal intensity. Knowledge of these MRI characteristics may avoid the use of surgical inter ventions to arrive at the correct diagnosis of these rare liver lesions.