The wandering spleen: case report of laparoscopic splenectomy in a pregnant woman

Abstract

Wandering spleen (WS) is a rare and still relatively unknown condition. It is characterized by augmented mobility of the spleen, due to a congenital lack of splenic ligaments or an acquired increased laxity of these structures. This relaxation of the tissues may lead to spontaneous torsions of the splenic hilum, with possible subsequent acute or chronic ischemic infarctions of the spleen, making WS a deceptive and misleading condition. Until 2012 WS cases reported in the medical literature were about 500 worldwide, almost a 0.5% of splenectomies performed (Puranik et al. 2017). Since 2012, there have been reported in the literature almost 150 new cases. The real incidence of this pathology is surely underestimated because of the healthy carriers, making WS a silent condition until the appearance of its complications, which could also be life-threatening.