Abstract

Splenic artery thromboembolism is a rare condition that may lead to the splenic ischemia. It is mostly caused by cardiac thromboembolism and atrial fibrillation (AF)(1). Hyperthyroidism; can cause AF and predispose to hypercoagulability. Here we present a sixty year old male patient with a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism who quitted taking his anti-thyroid medications for over two months. Patient underwent an emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis. On the post-operative 10th day, he was complained about an abdominal pain and the interventions performed demonstrated a thromboembolism in the splenic artery; ischemia and infarction in the pancreas and spleen due to this thrombus. His hyperthyroidism treatment was started again and the splenic infarction was treated conservatively. As it is in our case the hyperthyroidism history should be questioned carefully in the emergency cases and the results of the thyroid function tests should be checked before the surgery.

Key words: Atrial Fibrillation; Hyperthyroidism; Spleen Ischemia.