[Splenic metastases. Apropos of 4 cases]

The authors report about 4 cases of splenic metastases in patients with the following neoplasms: urothelial carcinoma of the left kidney, adenocarcinoma of the uterine body, adenocarcinoma of the left flexure of the colon, adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid loop. On large autopsy series, metastases to the spleen are not rare (7% in average), and rank 10th among the 44 metastatic sites described in the literature. Cancers of the breast, lung, skin (melanoma), ovaries and stomach (cardia) make up more than 60% of the primary tumors. The diagnosis is most often accidental (surveillance of operated patients), rarely clinical (pain, splenomegaly), and it is based on medical imaging (ultrasound, CT). In the absence of hemostatic disorders, percutaneous needle biopsies are possible. Treatment, when at all possible, is surgical (splenectomy) and must comply with carcinological rules.