Acute Hodgkin disease masquerading as splenic abscess

A splenic abscess was erroneously diagnosed in a 65-year-old patient. The diagnosis was established on clinical, radiological and ultrasonographic data. At laparotomy the spleen was markedly enlarged by tumoral tissue and contained a large cystic lesion. The histological diagnosis was typical Hodgkin disease with lymphocytic depletion. Ultrasonography adds valuable information in the diagnosis of splenic lesions. Hodgkin disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of cystic lesions detected in the spleen by this method.