Endoscopy 2000; 32(5): 428-431
DOI: 10.1055/s-2000-638
Case Report

Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Hemosuccus Pancreaticus - A Rare Cause of Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Diagnosis and Interventional Radiological Therapy

C. A. Benz 1 , P. Jakob 2 , R. Jakobs 1 , J. F. Riemann 1
  • 1 Department of Gastroenterology, Klinikum der Stadt Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Academic Teaching Hospital of the University of Mainz, Germany
  • 2 Department of Radiology, Klinikum der Stadt Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Academic Teaching Hospital of the University of Mainz, Germany
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
31 December 2000 (online)

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Hemorrhage from the pancreatic duct, i. e. hemosuccus pancreaticus (HP), is a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. Pancreatic hemosuccus is usually due to the rupture of an aneurysm of a visceral artery, most likely the splenic artery, in chronic pancreatitis. Other causes of HP are rare. We present a case of HP in a female patient with no history but with positive findings of chronic calcifying pancreatitis upon ultrasonographic investigation, computed tomography scan, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. With detectable fresh blood in the descending duodenum, angiography of the celiac artery revealed an aneurysm of the splenic artery as the suspected cause of intermittent bleeding from the pancreatic duct. The treatment is traditionally surgical or by interventional radiological means. This is the first case described in the literature in which interventional radiological therapy involved implantation of an uncoated metal Palmaz stent in the splenic artery. In the follow-up of 18 months no relapse of HP was observed.