Abscess of the spleen.

Abscess of the spleen is a very rare lesion. In this study, 4 cases of splenic abscess are presented and discussed along with the literature. The cases were between 16 and 55 years-old and two of them had hematologic malignancy. All of them had been operated on because of acute abdomen, and in two cases splenic rupture was present. Only in one of the cases was salmonellosis detected by microbiological methods. By histological examination, expansion and congestion in splenic sinusoids, and foci of abscess including wide areas of necrosis and inflammatory infiltration by neutrophils were seen in all cases. The most frequent cause of splenic abscess is septic embolism arising from bacterial endocarditis. There are also a few splenic abscess cases seen with malignancies. While splenic abscess is seen rarely, it has a high rate of mortality when it is diagnosed late.