ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1636456
Low prevalence of hemoperitoneum recurrence in dogs following splenectomy for benign splenic tumors
Provisionally accepted
- 1LVVSC, Las Vegas, United States
- 2Ethos Discovery, Sorrento Valley, California, United States
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The purpose of this study is to describe outcomes and prevalence of hemoperitoneum recurrence in dogs presumptively cured following splenectomy for spontaneously ruptured benign splenic lesions. Retrospective analysis of a cohort of 83 client-owned dogs with a spontaneous hemoperitoneum due to histologically benign, bleeding splenic lesion was performed. Medical records of dogs with ruptured benign splenic tumors presenting with hemoperitoneum were reviewed in addition to owner follow-up to determine if subsequent hemoperitoneum events occurred. Data was analyzed using statistical software (GraphPad Prism 10.1.2). Fifty-nine patients (71%) were alive at the end of the follow-up period with a median follow-up time of 375 days (range: 128-1062) with no new concerns related to previous splenectomy or hemoperitoneum. Six dogs died and 18 dogs (28.9%) were euthanized during the follow-up period. Recurrent hemoperitoneum was identified in 3 dogs at 40, 68, and 385 days postoperatively, with a new liver lesion, abdominal lesion of unclear origin, or hepatic nodules as the reason for the rebleeding events. Additional sectioning of the initial lesions was not performed. Second hemoperitoneum events occurred, but were uncommon, accounting for 3.6% of cases in this study. Reasons for recurrent spontaneous hemoperitoneum may include development of a new lesion, a secondary non-splenic lesion that was unidentified on preoperative staging or abdominal exploratory, or histopathologic misdiagnosis of a lesion.
Keywords: Hemoperitoneum, Recurrence, Splenectomy, benign, dog
Received: 27 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fourthman, Stewart, Wilson-Robles, Khanna and Cawley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Brooke Fourthman, LVVSC, Las Vegas, United States
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