Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Mar 1991
Case Reports[Spontaneous splenic rupture in chronic pancreatitis].
A 50-year-old woman complained of upper abdominal pain for several weeks, getting worse and radiating towards the left shoulder in the 24 hours preceding her hospital admission. Plain X-ray film of the abdomen revealed plaque-like calcifications projecting onto the tail of the pancreas. Ultrasound imaging demonstrated splenic rupture with free intra-abdominal fluid. ⋯ Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography revealed chronic pancreatitis with a 3 cm pseudocyst in the tail of the pancreas. A papillotomy was performed, after which the symptoms rapidly regressed and the pancreatic enzyme concentrations fell. This was thus a case of spontaneous splenic rupture associated with previously undiagnosed chronic pancreatitis with inflammatory papillary stenosis and pseudocyst in the pancreatic tail.