title: [Non-traumatic rupture of the spleen].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A non-traumatic rupture of the spleen is a rare, serious condition with a high mortality rate. This sort of rupture can occur in a healthy patient or in patients with an underlying disease such as an infection or a haematological disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here we describe a 52-year-old man who had Legionella pneumonia and suffered a spontaneous rupture of the spleen. He had to undergo a splenectomy following an unsuccessful embolisation of the lienal artery. He recovered. In the second patient, a 73-year-old man with monoclonal gammopathy, rupture of the spleen was caused by amyloidosis of the spleen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rupture of the spleen can cause life threatening haemorrhage, so early recognition is important.
authors.affiliation: Tergooiziekenhuizen, locatie Blaricum, afd. Interne Geneeskunde, Blaricum. m.c.kerckhoffs@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Monika C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kerckhoffs
authors.forename: Jan A M
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hoskam
authors.forename: Albert J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: ten Tije
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000150:complications; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D013156:Splenectomy; D013161:Splenic Rupture / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome