Splenosis

Splenosis is the result of spleen tissue breaking off the main organ and implanting at another site inside the body.

Splenosis must be distinguished from the presence of additional spleens, which are innate and are the result of differences in embryological development.

[2] A necessary requirement for splenosis is the rupture of the spleen, through a traumatic injury (such as a car wreck) or abdominal surgery, especially splenectomy.

Splenosis of the brain or liver is hypothesized to be the result of tiny pieces of spleen tissue traveling through the bloodstream.

Macroscopically, splenosis manifests as individual pieces of reddish-blue tissue with variable shape, which can be as few as one and as many as 300,[4] mostly in the abdominal cavity, and varying in size from a few millimeters to as large as 12 cm.

Splenosis is slightly more common in males than females, probably due to the greater frequency of physical trauma experienced by men.

Several implants of splenic tissue have implanted in the soft tissue of the left upper abdomen. The person had experienced splenic rupture during a car wreck and subsequent surgical removal of the spleen four years before this photo was taken.