[Splenic artery aneurysm masked by postcholecystectomy syndrome]

Visceral artery aneurysms appear to belong to uncommon and potentially lethal vascular diseases. They are usually revealed accidentally during an ultrasonographic examination, magnetic resonance imaging, or computed tomography. Described in the article is a clinical case report concerning a sacciform aneurysm of the splenic artery, detected in a 53-year-old woman presenting with postcholecystectomy syndrome and followed up for abdominalgia by therapeutists and gastroenterologists. Timely performed radiodiagnosis (including multispiral computed tomography and angiography of the abdominal vessels) made it possible not only to detect the aneurysm, having thus verified the volumetric formation previously found on ultrasonographic examination, but to take adequate measures aimed at preventing rupture of the aneurysm and consisting in endovascular occlusion of the aneurysmatic cavity with metal spirals. Lack of complete clarity in the understanding of the mechanisms of the origin of and no distinctly defined therapeutic-and-diagnostic algorithm for visceral artery aneurysms dictate the necessity to continue collecting and generalizing clinical case reports regarding this rarely encountered vascular pathology.