Dear Friends,
the first case of Caceres’ corner was published in September 23, 2011. Today, seven years later, we are proud to present case 200. It was not always easy, but it was always fun and worth it. Thank you for your continuous support.
Today’s case was diagnosed by my friend and co-worker Carles Vilá. The PA radiograph was taken as a pre-op exam for renal stones.
Do you see any abnormality?
More images will be shown on Wednesday
Click here to see the images
Dear Friends,
we saw a peripheral opacity in the lower left hemithorax and performed a CT, which showed unexpected findings.
What do you see?
Click here to see the new images
Click here to see the answer
Findings: PA radiograph shows a faint opacity in the periphery of the left lower hemithorax (A, circle). A CT was recommended.
Axial CT shows an unexpected irregular basal opacity (B, arrow). Caudal slices show several parietal nodules (C-D, arrows).
Coronal CT shows the large basal opacity (D, arrow), as well as the small parietal nodules (D-E, red arrows).
The clue to the diagnosis lies in a negative finding: absent spleen in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen (D-E, asterisks), suggesting that the chest opacities may represent accessory spleens.
The patient was interrogated and stated a previous car accident with ruptured spleen and subsequent splenectomy. A test with labelled erythrocytes in another institution confirmed the accessory spleens.
Final diagnosis: thoracic splenosis
As I am writing this (12:00 PM Thursday), nobody has suggested the right diagnosis. I was expecting many correct answers, since I showed a similar case eight weeks ago (Diploma case 135).
Teaching point: remember the importance of negative findings (Diploma cases 135 and 136). In this particular patient, they were crucial to suggest the correct diagnosis.
Congratulations to MK, who made a last-minute diagnosis at 2:08 P.M. on Thursday!