Case reports

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Emergency medicine Digestive system diseases General medicine Hematologic diseases Infectious diseases
Volume 201 - Issue 8

Splenic rupture: a rare complication of infectious mononucleosis

Authors:  Eugene Ng and Michelle Lee

Med J Aust 2014; 201 (8): 480. || doi: 10.5694/mja13.00116
Published online: 20 October 2014
This complication is rare, but potentially disastrous
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A 28-year-old man presented to the emergency department with acute left upper quadrant tenderness and postural hypotension. He reported having had fever and cervical tenderness for 1 week before his presentation.

Blood tests showed an elevated white cell count with reactive lymphocytosis. A test for infectious mononucleosis heterophile antibody was positive, consistent with recent infection.

A contrast scan of the abdomen showed splenomegaly with subcapsular haematoma.

Splenic rupture after infectious mononucleosis is rare (incidence, 0.1%–0.5%), but can have disastrous consequences if overlooked.1,2

Authors

  • Eugene Ng MB BS1
  • Michelle Lee MB BS1
  • 1. Department of Surgery, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.

Correspondence: eugeneng82@gmail.com

References

View this article on Wiley Online Library

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