Solitary metachronous splenic metastases: an evaluation of surgical treatment.

Splenic metastases occurring after primary tumor removal and apparently solitary have been documented only recently in Literature. They are, most of the times, clinically asymptomatic and their presence is casually determined by ultrasonographic follow-up in subjects otherwise in good conditions. The belief that splenic metastases occur only in disseminated cancer is today no longer accepted. Some Authors consider solitary splenic metachronous metastases eligible for surgical treatment as well as pulmonary or hepatic metastases. In the case presented, surgery was required due to abscess formation of a splenic metastasis, which was not responding to chemotherapy. Our experience, like others reported in Literature, verified a long-term post-operative survival in spite of limited disease-free time. Surgical treatment by splenectomy can be indicated in selected patients, considering that chemotherapy has been proved to be ineffective in the treatment of splenic metastases.