Acute Pancreatitis Induced Splenic Vein Thrombosis

Acute inflammation of the pancreas, known as pancreatitis, can result in many complications ranging from acute distress respiratory syndrome to pancreatic necrosis. A relatively common vascular complication of pancreatitis is splenic vein thrombosis (SVT) due to intimal inflammation leading to platelet aggregation and thrombosis. The management of SVT with regard to anticoagulation (AC) might appear to be perplexing at first given the recommendation to withhold any sort of AC. Research studies have shown that these patients have an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding without AC. In this report, we discuss a case of hypertriglyceridemia-induced pancreatitis. During hospitalization, our patient complained of worsening abdominal pain with objective fevers and leukocytosis in which CT scan of the abdomen was significant for hemorrhagic pancreatitis with necrosis, acute SVT, and splenomegaly. The patient was managed conservatively with IV fluids, pain relief medications, and antibiotics.