The following symptoms and complaints may indicate a ruptured spleen (splenic rupture):
Unilateral splenic rupture
- Abdominal pain in the left upper quadrant (left upper abdomen).
- Possibly local defensive tension (acute abdomen).
- Possibly radiation of pain into the left shoulder (= Kehr sign).
- Possibly pressure painfulness of the “spleen point”: left side of the neck (located on the left between the scalenus anterior muscle and sternocleidomastoid muscle) (= Saegesser sign).
- Possibly pain-induced Schonatmung
- If necessary, symptoms of concomitant injuries
Concomitant symptoms
- Signs of hypovolemic shock (volume deficiency shock) (in this case, hemorrhagic shock/bleeding causes the shock):
- Hypotension (drop in blood pressure)? systolic < 100 mmHg.
- Tachycardia? (heartbeat too fast: > 100 beats per minute).
Two-stage splenic rupture
- Sudden onset of shock symptoms and left upper abdominal pain (see above for other symptoms)
- Complaint-free interval of several days to weeks between onset of trauma and onset of sudden-onset shock symptomatology
