Clinical Vignette: Splenic Abscesses.

Abstract

Abstract:

This is a case report on splenic abscesses. It is about a 51 year old female who has Crohn’s Disease; the diagnosis of her Crohn’s disease has been complicated and ambiguous. She presents multiple times over 7 years due to recurrent abdominal pain. The patient has had multiple colonoscopies and biopsies which have supported a differential of Crohn’s Disease vs. Tuberculosis; no pathology specimen has been specifically diagnostic for either disease process. Investigations and work up of her most recent presentation of abdominal pain revealed a single splenic abscess that over the course of 3 months seeded within her spleen to become multiple splenic abscesses. Is this abscess secondary to her Crohn’s disease, Tuberculosis, or another cause? Splenic abscesses are not commonly seen; as such, this case report provides a description of the case, and about the etiology, pathophysiology and treatment options for splenic abscesses.