Laparoscopic extirpation of splenic hamartoma

Abstract

We presented a case of splenic hamartoma. A 12-year-old girl has had an abdominal pain since 9 years of age. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan at a local hospital revealed heterogeneous enhancement of a mass which is 5 cm in diameter, located near the surface of the spleen, diagnosed as hemangioma. She had an investigation with Levovist-enhanced ultrasonography and superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging on T2-weighted gradient-echo imaging, which showed a hypervascular echoic mass and a decrease of signal intensity. The imaging diagnosis was splenic hamartoma. She underwent laparoscopic splenectomy to prevent the spontaneous rupture. The splenic artery at the pancreas body was exposed, and doubly ligated by vessel clip and furthermore ligated by 3-0 silk. At the splenic hilum, the splenic artery and vein were dissected with the Endo GIA vascular linear cutting stapler. The spleen was captured into the Endocatch II retrieval bag and removed from a transverse lower abdominal (suprapubic) incision extended up 7 cm in length through a port site. In pathological findings, the tumor was compatible with hamartoma. Splenic hamartomas in pediatric patients have been described extremely rare. In clinical symptoms, spontaneously ruptured splenic hamartoma has been rarely reported.