Lymphangiomatous hamartoma of the spleen.

A 72 year old female was admitted for an operation of gastric cancer. At the operation, a 3 x 3 cm-sized, whitish and multilocular nodule was incidently found at the left side of the spleen. This nodule was adjoining the splenic capsule and was characterized with sparsely found multilocular lymphatic cysts with varying sizes. The walls of these cysts were composed of partly thin fibrous tissue, or partly thin to thick splenic trabeculae. Abnormally elongated, nodular or fragmentary trabeculae were also present in the nodule. White and red splenic pulp was found widely dispersed among the cysts. The surrounding splenic tissue was not compressed. We considered the essence of this tumor to be an abnormal mixture of normal splenic elements such as lymphatics, splenic trabeculae, and red and white pulp, and regarded this tumor as a focal malformation (lymphangiomatous hamartoma) rather than a true neoplasm such as a lymphangioma.