Open Access

Maximilian Leiblien, Daniela Ullrich, Nils Habbe, Michael Keese, Ingo Marzi, Mark Lehnert

• A 79 year old female patient was admitted to our emergency department with a fracture of the right medial femoral neck six days after a fall on her right side and a cemented hemiprosthesis was implanted. Five days later, she developed a hemorrhagic shock and was diagnosed with a delayed splenic rupture and the spleen was resected. Histopathological examination showed a delayed rupture of an otherwise normal spleen without signs of an underlying pathology. The outcome was fatal: In the postoperative course she developed pneumonia, three weeks later she succumbed due to multiple organ failure. Even careful reevaluation of the case did not provide any clues to expect an injury of the spleen according to trauma mechanism. This case shows that delayed splenic rupture of a normal spleen may occur even after a low energy trauma. Injury of the spleen should therefore always be considered, even with an uncharacteristic anamnesis. Physical examination after trauma should therefore always include a careful clinical evaluation. The clinical threshold for a FAST examination should be low. The coincidence of a femoral neck fracture and a splenic rupture after a low energy trauma has not been reported before.