She denied experiencing any recent falls or trauma. The patient reported no nausea, vomiting, chest pain, or shortness of breath. She rated her epigastric and left upper quadrant abdominal pain as 10 on a scale of 0 to 10 and noted that the pain radiated to her left shoulder, which is known as Kehr's sign. She took ranitidine, but it failed to relieve her symptoms and she presented to the emergency department within 6 hours of the colonoscopy.
Shortly after returning home, she experienced progressively worsening epigastric and left upper quadrant abdominal pain. Case reportĪ 71-year-old woman who had undergone colonoscopic polypectomy of tubular adenomas several years earlier underwent a follow-up colonoscopy. 3,4 We report a case of splenic trauma from colonoscopy that was managed successfully using conservative treatment. Approximately 45 cases have been reported in the literature. 2 Colonoscopy-induced trauma to the spleen was first reported in the literature approximately 30 years ago, but it is unusual. 1 Although complications are rare, the most feared and fatal are perforation and hemorrhage, which have a reported incidence of 0.029% to 0.72% and 0.2% to 2.67%, respectively. In cases where splenic trauma is identified early, the success rate of nonoperative treatment is increased considerably.Ĭolonoscopy is one of the most commonly performed procedures, and an estimated 14.2 million were undertaken in the United States in 2002. They also detail other cases reported in the literature and discuss the risk factors for splenic injury and the benefits of using a conservative approach.Ĭonclusion: Splenic trauma should be suspected in every patient who presents with abdominal pain following colonoscopy, especially those who are hemodynamically unstable or demonstrate an acute drop in hematocrit level.
Results and discussion: The authors report a case of splenic trauma secondary to colonoscopy in an elderly women who was successfully treated conservatively. Surgical treatment is required in many cases, but conservative management should be used when possible. Introduction: Splenic trauma is a rare and potentially fatal complication of colonoscopy.