Seurat spleen

Last revised by Yuranga Weerakkody on 26 Sep 2019

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Weerakkody Y, Knipe H, et al. Seurat spleen. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 18 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-9378

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-9378

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/9378

rID:

9378

Article created:

10 Apr 2010, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

26 Sep 2019, Yuranga Weerakkody ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Yuranga Weerakkody had no recorded disclosures.

View Yuranga Weerakkody's current disclosures

Revisions:

4 times, by 4 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Gastrointestinal, Hepatobiliary, Trauma

Sections:

Signs

Tags:

spleen, trauma

Seurat spleen is an angiographic appearance seen following blunt trauma to the spleen. Multiple small punctate regions of intraparenchymal contrast extravasation lead to a spotted appearance.

Pathology

Several mechanisms are thought to to attribute to this appearance which include sinusoidal stasis, traumatic artenio-venous aneurysm, contrast leakage from fragmented sinusoids, stasis of blood and contrast material within marginal sinuses because of contusion, hematoma and hypotension.

History and etymology

The term refers to a likeness between the angiographic appearance and the artwork of French impressionist Georges Seurat (1859-1891) who used a pointillist technique to create an image out of tiny dots ¹.