[Modern imaging procedures in splenic diseases]

Imaging procedures have lately become important in pathologic conditions of the spleen, because they are simple to use and do not cause much stress to the patient. Ultrasonography is the method of choice for determination of the position, shape, size and volume of the spleen, and also for the diagnosis of changes within the spleen. Circumscribed lesions cannot be detected by ultrasonography until they have reached a size of 0.5-1.0 cm; the same limit of detection applies for CT, which has approximately the same diagnostic reliability. In the presence of generalized splenic disease (e.g. splenomegaly in myeloid leukaemia) imaging procedures are being used increasingly for staging and for monitoring of the results of treatment. Perhaps in future histochemical determinations made with the aid of core-spin spectroscopy will present a further means of diagnosis without the necessity for biopsy. Angiography was the leading diagnostic technique for spleen conditions for many years, and continues to occupy this place for primary disease of the spleen (aneurysm, arterioportal fistula, haemangioma); it is currently gaining in importance with the advent of therapeutic embolization as an option. For diffuse spleen disease and also for circumscribed lesions, however, it has now been superseded by the non-invasive methods of diagnosis.