Splenic artery aneurysms, a rare complication of type 1 gaucher disease: Report of five cases

Abstract

Type 1 Gaucher disease is a rare genetic lysosomal disorder due to acid betaglucosidase deficiency. The main features are thrombocytopenia, anemia, hepatosplenomegaly and complex skeletal disease. Complications include pulmonary hypertension, cirrhosis and splenic infarction; comorbidities, such as autoimmune phenomena, B-cell malignancies and Parkinson disease also occur. Visceral aneurysms have been only rarely noted in Gaucher disease. We report the retrospective data from patients with Gaucher disease type 1 and splenic arterial aneurysm. We describe the different outcomes of a giant splenic arterial aneurysm in five patients with type 1 Gaucher disease and discuss the main possible pathophysiological explanations. Aneurysms of the splenic artery are rare in Gaucher disease but are probably greatly under-reported.