Wandering Spleen

A wandering spleen is one that is found in a location other than the left upper quadrant. This wandering ability may be due to congenital absence of the ligaments that tether the spleen in place, with the lienorenal ligament being the most important. Hormonally induced laxity of ligaments (e.g., during pregnancy) can also allow the spleen to wander off.

Patients may be asymptomatic, present with chronic abdominal pain (presumably from recurrent torsion), or acute abdominal pain. The dreaded complication of wandering spleen is torsion around its vessels, resulting in infarction.

References

Romero JR, Barksdale EM Jr. Wandering spleen: a rare cause of abdominal pain. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2003 Dec;19(6):412-4