Hamartoma of the spleen with haematological symptoms.

We report the case of a 29 year old male patient with a splenic hamartoma suffering from infections, anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Shortly after surgical removal of the tumour the blood cell count was within normal range. Hamartomas of the spleen are rare benign tumour-like lesions composed mainly of vascular elements. Most of them remain small in size and asymptomatic and are therefore incidental findings at laparotomy or autopsy. However, occasionally they present with symptoms, among which haematological disturbances appear in very few cases; only 16 cases of splenic hamartomas with haematological symptoms are described in the literature. The major symptoms were anaemia and/or thrombocytopenia as well as frequent infections. After removal of these lesions the symptoms disappeared.