[Splenic abscess. Apropos of 5 cases].

Spleen abscesses are infrequent, and are encountered in 0.4 to 0.7%-of the autopsy series. They are diagnosed late and their prognosis is poor. The authors report about 5 cases of spleen abscesses observed at Dakar's University Surgical Clinic over a period of 30 years. The patients were young adults, including one case of sickle-cell anemia. In spite of numerous clinical signs in all cases, the abscess was diagnosed late. In three patients, ultrasound allowed establishing the diagnosis and initiating percutaneous treatment, with no success in two cases. The procedure had consisted in total splenectomy in all cases. One patient died 2 months after surgery, after the evacuation of a hematoma in the splenic compartment. The other 4 patients, seen 7, 4, 3 months and 15 years after total splenectomy, no longer presented with any symptom. The authors emphasize the rarity of spleen abscesses; the fact that the diagnosis is often established late, in spite of the progress made in non-invasive medical imaging, including CT and ultrasound; the physiopathology, etiology and treatment of the disease, the latter still being surgical.