Case report : splenic infarction
Abstract
Splenic infarction is a rarely encountered disorder, usually occurring as a complication of another disease process. Due to the distribution of the splenic vasculature, infarcted areas are limited to specific segments of the spleen and rarely extend to all of the parenchyma. Wedge-shaped, hypodense regions are the characteristic appearance of splenic infarction on imaging studies. A 57 year old African American male presented to Truman Medical Center with a five day history of severe left upper quadrant abdominal pain, radiating to his left shoulder and neck. He also complained of nausea, dyspnea and mild chest pain but denied fever; the patient had visited the ER two days prior with similar complaints and his symptoms were partly relieved with a GI cocktail and ranitidine. However, the above symptoms worsened and he returned for further evaluation. His past medical history was remarkable for hepatitis C, hypertension, IV drug use, chronic tobacco use, BPH and a history of medication noncompliance.
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