title: Thoracic splenosis mimicking thoracic schwannoma: case report and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thoracic splenosis is a rare entity. It occurs sometime after splenic and diaphragmatic injury, and it is rarely symptomatic.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a case of left upper thoracic paraspinal splenosis 25 years after a thoracoabdominal penetrating trauma that required a splenectomy. The pathology was suspected on a routine chest x-ray and it mimicked a schwannoma on magnetic resonance imaging. Less than 40 cases of thoracic splenosis were described in the literature, but few were misinterpreted as schwannoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alertness to the possibility of thoracic splenosis can lead to confirmation of the diagnosis with technetium Tc 99m-tagged red blood cell radionuclide scanning based on a previous history of traumatic splenectomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 11072020, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Ali M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Alaraj
authors.forename: Roukoz B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Chamoun
authors.forename: Nader S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Dahdaleh
authors.forename: Pierre M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Sfeir
authors.forename: Mohamad S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Miski
authors.forename: Zaher K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Otrock
authors.forename: Ghassan S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Skaf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D013156:Splenectomy; D017890:Splenosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013997:Time Factors; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000601:surgery*