Rare case of pregnancy in the spleen while using an IUD

Recently, specialist II Dr. Dinh Quoc Hung, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Central Obstetrics Hospital, said that the hospital received a special patient case when abdominal ultrasound results detected a gestational sac and fetal heartbeat in the spleen parenchyma.

Specifically, the patient had an intrauterine device for 6 years. The patient discovered that her period was 7 days late and she had dull abdominal pain for 4 days before going to the provincial hospital for examination. The patient's BhCG index increased very high while a vaginal ultrasound did not detect a fetus in the uterus.

rare case of pregnancy in the pelvis while using an IUD picture 1 — The case of pregnancy nesting in the spleen is a very rare case, the world has only recorded 39 cases. (Illustration photo).

At the Central Obstetrics Hospital ( Hanoi ), the patient's vital signs such as pulse and blood pressure were normal, the abdomen was soft, and there was mild pain in the left rib area radiating to the epigastrium. There was a little vaginal bleeding, the cervix had a looped cord, and abdominal ultrasound results revealed a gestational sac and a fetal heart in the spleen parenchyma.

After being diagnosed with a spleen pregnancy, the patient was consulted with the gastroenterology department of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (Hanoi) and transferred to surgery to remove the fetus and part of the spleen.

This very rare case was reported by a doctor at the Central Obstetrics Hospital in the proceedings of the 2023 Vietnam - France Obstetrics and Gynecology Conference recently held in Hanoi.

According to Dr. Dinh Quoc Hung, pregnancy in the spleen is an extremely rare case in ectopic pregnancy, this is the phenomenon of the fetus implanting on the surface or in the parenchyma of the spleen. In the world, there are only 39 recorded cases of pregnancy in the spleen.

It is worth mentioning that pregnancy in the spleen is difficult to diagnose and extremely dangerous if not detected early because of the risk of spleen rupture causing internal bleeding, affecting the patient's life. In many cases, it can be confused with spleen rupture, chorio rupture.

In Vietnam, the first case of spleen pregnancy was recorded at the end of 2017, at Thanh Nhan Hospital (Hanoi). At that time, the world had only recorded 9 similar cases.

Tu Du Hospital has also recorded a case of ectopic pregnancy when a 22-week fetus was found in the mother’s right liver. In addition, Hue Central Hospital, when performing an ultrasound on a pregnant woman, also discovered a four-week fetus in the liver.

Le Trang

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