“Thought a 12-cm Tumor Had Developed on the Ovary”... A “Wandering Organ” Found in 20-Year-Old Woman’s Abdomen [Warning Signs]

[Financial News] A huge 12-cm mass was found in the lower abdomen of a 20-year-old woman. Given its location, an ovarian tumor was considered the most likely explanation.
But the medical team opened her abdomen in the operating room and could hardly believe what they saw. Her ovaries and fallopian tubes were completely normal. The mass filling her pelvis was none other than her own spleen. The organ, which should have been beneath her left ribs, had wandered through her abdomen and descended all the way into her pelvis.
On the 27th (local time), the U.S. medical news outlet Medical Daily covered an extraordinary surgical case involving doctors in Türkiye, reported in the international journal Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research.

A 20-year-old woman sought care at Etlik City Hospital in Ankara, Türkiye, complaining of severe abdominal pain. An ultrasound revealed a firm, 12-cm mass near her right ovary.
The blood test results heightened concern. Her platelet count surged to 954,000, more than double the normal level, and her lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, which can rise when cells are damaged, also climbed. Based on the large solid mass and abnormal blood results, the medical team suspected an ovarian germ cell tumor (cancer).
An abdominal CT scan contained one decisive “clue”: the spleen was nowhere to be seen in its normal position in the upper-left abdomen, beneath the ribs. But attention was focused on the huge mass in the pelvis, and no one even suspected that it might be the spleen until just before surgery.


The true identity of the mass, discovered in the operating room, was shocking. The uterus and both ovaries were completely normal. Once the tissue thought to be a huge cancerous mass was removed, it turned out to be the spleen, displaced from its normal position and descended into the pelvis.
This is an extremely rare condition known medically as a “wandering spleen.” It occurs when the ligaments that hold the spleen in place are absent from birth or become loose later in life, allowing the organ to float freely inside the abdomen. It occurs in just 0.2% of cases, and fewer than 500 cases have been reported worldwide.
The real danger lies in complications caused by the organ’s movement. The splenic blood vessels, connected like an umbilical cord, can twist and cut off the blood supply.
The woman’s spleen, too, was tightly attached to surrounding tissue, and its blood vessels were severely twisted. The tissue had already become necrotic (infarcted), and bleeding had occurred. Although it was not a malignant tumor (cancer), the medical team determined that the organ could no longer be saved and removed the entire spleen.
Fortunately, the outcome was a happy one. After the spleen was removed, her platelet count, which had been fluctuating around 950,000, plunged to roughly half within two days and returned to normal. The woman recovered and was discharged, and received preventive vaccines, including the pneumococcal vaccine, to help prevent the decline in immunity associated with losing her spleen.
The researchers emphasized, “When an unexplained mass is found in the pelvis of a young woman, if the spleen’s normal location appears empty on a CT scan, doctors must consider the possibility of a wandering spleen.”
It is a medical warning that overlooking a small clue can cost a patient an organ. This chilling yet astonishing case shattered the blind assumption that the organs inside our bodies will always stay quietly in their proper places.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter