Inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen: clinical impact in surgical treatment

An inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen is a rare benign tumor and designated as mass-like lesions with histologic features of nonspecific inflammation and mesenchymal repair although its etiopathogenesis still remains unknown. Here we describe the case of an inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen in a 57-year-old woman, whose lesion was accidentally found and thought to be lymphoma at first. Generally splenic tumors are difficult to diagnose exactly before surgery, then the patient underwent splenectomy, followed by histopathological diagnosis of inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen. The optimal management of the asymptomastic patient with such disease is still controversial. The clinical and pathological features of previously reported cases are also reviewed in this paper.