Differential diagnosis of occupying splenic lesions

1.Spleen hemangioma is benign, often without clinical symptoms, mostly found occasionally by physical examination, typically showing MRI: low signal in T1WI, gradually increasing high signal in T2WI, and hypointense in CT scan, with enhancement starting from the periphery and gradually filling in the center, which may form a fibrous scar. Smaller hemangiomas show significant enhancement at the early stage of enhancement and fill the entire lesion, with delayed uniformity of signal with or above the splenic parenchyma. 2.Spleen endothelial sarcoma is a malignant tumor with clinical abdominal pain, abdominal mass, fever, emaciation and anemia, and metastasis can occur in most patients at an early stage. Because of the early metastasis of this disease, careful search for metastatic foci can help the differential diagnosis. 3.Cavernous angiolymphangioid tumor is a kind of vascular malformation tumor, which contains cavernous angioma and lymphangioid tumor components. progressive enhancement”. 4. Splenic lymphadenoma, also known as lymphoedema or cystic lymphadenopathy, is less common. Clinically, it is usually seen in young and middle-aged people, and patients are usually asymptomatic, except for larger lesions that compress adjacent organs and cause epigastric distention or mild distension. Lymphangiectasia is not a true tumor, but a congenital developmental malformation that results from abnormal development of local lymphatic vessels and obstruction of lymphatic fluid return, leading to continuous expansion of lymphatic vessels and tumor-like changes. Pathologically, the disease is a multi-housed cystic structure with a cystic lumen filled with yellow lymphatic fluid and a cystic wall lined with flattened epithelial cells, with a small amount of smooth muscle tissue and fibrous intervals of varying thickness in some thickened cystic walls. According to the size of the lymphatic vessels, the disease can be divided into three types: capillary, spongy and cystic, with cystic lymphadenoma being the most common. The CT scan shows mild to moderate enlargement of the spleen, with single or multiple hypointense shadows and fibrous septa with clear borders, and the intracapsular CT values are higher than those of general cysts (due to the protein content). 1. Splenic metastases: with a history of primary tumor, most cases have enlarged spleen with multiple or single round-like low-density shadows, most of which have clear borders, and enhancement of the wall can be seen on CT scan. 2. Splenic cyst: clinically most of them have no obvious symptoms, and CT shows round or ovoid density foci with thin wall, clear boundary, uniform density and watery density. There is no enhancement after enhancement scan. 3.Spleen abscess: Patients mostly have obvious symptoms of systemic infection, such as chills, high fever, nausea, vomiting, and elevated white blood cells, etc. CT shows single or multiple hypodense foci surrounded by thick walls. Enhanced scans may show thickened abscess walls. Outside the wall, a low-density ring surrounded by edematous bands is sometimes seen, and in a few cases, bubbles may appear in the abscess area. 4.Spleen tuberculosis: clinically there are symptoms of tuberculosis, such as fever, night sweats, weakness, emaciation, loss of appetite, accelerated blood sedimentation, positive tuberculin test, the patients are mostly young and middle-aged, with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis, mostly accompanied by other abdominal organs involved, CT shows multiple or single low-density shadow in the spleen, with clear or indistinct borders, often visible calcified foci in or near the lesion, no significant enhancement of the lesion on enhancement scan, and enlarged lymph nodes can be seen in the splenic hilum or periplasm. If the enlarged lymph nodes show central hypodensity and circumferential enhancement, it suggests possible tuberculosis. 5. Splenic infarction: no occupancy effect, single or multiple wedge-shaped or triangular-shaped low-density lesions in the spleen, with the base located at the outer edge of the spleen and the tip pointing to the splenic hilum, and no enhancement of the lesions after enhancement. 6. Splenic malformation tumors: Most of them are clinically asymptomatic and typically contain fatty and calcified components. The edges of the malformation tumor can be enhanced with a tendency to fill with contrast, but it usually cannot be completely filled. Malignant tumors may be combined with cystic lesions, and there is no enhancement in the cystic area. The enhancement is different from that of hemangioma.