Splenic Artery Aneurysms: A Morphological Assessment

Abstract

Vascular diseases of the spleen are relatively uncommon in clinical practice. Nevertheless, the reported incidence is increasing every year, possibly due to advances in the imaging techniques and increased attention towards disorders of the spleen. Among all splenic vascular diseases aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms are of major clinical significance due to their complications. In this study, we present five cases of splenic artery aneurysm, which presents 4.63% out of 108 organ complexes. We also provide a detailed description of the cases therefore demonstrating their variability. The splenic artery branched into two arteries of the I order in 75%, three arteries – 11.11%, four arteries – 4.63%, without branching – 9.26%. There were superior polar arteries in 37.96% and inferior polar arteries in 42.59%. There was no correlation between the presence of SAAs and the length or width of the spleen, splenic artery diameter, number of terminal branches or polar arteries (p>0.05).

Keywords

• dissection
• spleen
• splenic artery
• splenic artery aneurysms