Splenic abnormalities: an overview on sectional images.

Spleen, an organ that produces and controls blood cells, is a major regulatory site of the immune system. However, it is not necessary for the preservation of the vital functions, a feature that made this structure underlooked by most of radiologists and clinicians. In this paper, a working knowledge about the differential diagnosis of the sectional imaging techniques were presented. Computed tomography provides the basic information about this organ and its neighboring structures. The addition of the iodinated contrast media helps to further demarcate its parenchymal lesions. Magnetic resonance imaging, by virtue of its superb soft tissue contrast and lesion characterization, is used for the splenic lesions in which differential diagnosis were not reached by computed tomography. Organ-specific contrast media will be an important adjunct to magnetic resonance imaging in the near future.