Global Splenic Infarction From Thoracic Aortic Mobile Thrombus

Compared with focal infarction, global splenic infarction can lead to functional asplenia or hyposplenia but can be challenging to diagnose on portal venous phase CT performed for left upper quadrant pain due to the homogeneous nature of the hypoenhancement. Additional foci of embolic disease, such as within the kidneys, can aid in diagnosis and prompt the radiologist to more closely scrutinize the arterial vasculature and assess the chest for embolic sources. This case illustrates the easily missed finding of global splenic infarction, which was the result of embolic disease from thoracic aortic mobile thrombus.