[Epidermoid cyst of the spleen]

A 33-year old woman with 6 x 6 cm splenic cyst of the lower pole of a moderately enlarged spleen, found during ultrasonographic examination for epigastric and left subcostal abdominal pain, is presented. At operation the spleen of 900 grams with a subcapsular cyst in pedunculated extension of the lower splenic pole, ie. accessory lobe, was removed. No other abdominal disease was found. Postoperative recovery was uneventful. Pathohistological examination revealed a cyst, 6 cm in diameter, with whitish wall filled with dark-red turbid fluid containing yellow flocules. The wall of the cyst consisted of the fibrous connective tissue with sclerotic and hyaline changes. The cyst was entirely lined by the stratified squamous epithelium, in some areas flattened, transformed into endothelium. Diagnosis of a very rare splenic epidermoid cyst in the "accessory lobe" of the lower pole, was confirmed.