Hemangiosarcoma of the spleen: report of a case and review of previously reported cases.

Splenic hamangiosarcomas are rare tumors, usually discovered at autopsy. In a few instances the diagnosis was made premortem, at the time of splenectomy for spontaneous rupture. The tumors usually present with abdominal pain, left upper guadrant mass and tenderness, and occasionally with a microangiopathic type of anemia. The histogenesis of the tumor is in dispute. Some authors feel that they are degenerations of hemangiomas. Others feel that they arise de novo in the spleen. There is not proven association of thorotrast administration or vinyl chloride exposure to the development of hemangiosarcomas in the spleen. The prognosis of the tumor is uniformly poor and most of the patients surviving laparotomy have followed a uniformly fatal clinical course. In a few cases treated with chemotherapy there has been no evidence of clinical benefit. The case report in this article presented with essentially all the features enumerated above.