title: Malaria-induced splenic infarction.
abstract: Splenic infarction is a rare complication of malaria. We report two recent cases of splenic infarction after Plasmodium vivax infection. No systematic review of malaria-induced splenic infarction was available, therefore we conducted a systematic review of the English, French, and Spanish literature in PubMed and KoreaMed for reports of malaria-associated splenic infarction from 1960 to 2012. Of the 40 cases collected on splenic infarction by Plasmodium species, 23 involved P. vivax, 11 Plasmodium falciparum, one Plasmodium ovale, and five a mixed infection of P. vivax and P. falciparum. Of the 40 cases, 2 (5.0%) involved splenectomy and 5 (12.5%) were accompanied by splenic rupture. The median time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 8.5 days (range, 3-90 days). Improved findings after treatment were observed in 8 (88.9%) of 9 patients with splenic infarction on follow-up by computed tomography or ultrasonography. All patients survived after treatment with the exception of one patient with cerebral malaria. Clinicians should consider the possibility of splenic infarction when malaria-infected patients have left upper quadrant pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School and Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Chonbuk National University-Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School and Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Chonbuk National University-Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Republic of Korea lcsmd@jbnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Chang-Seop
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013159:Splenic Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed