An 80 year old frail, demented woman was referred to hospital for being generally unwell and with vague lower abdominal discomfort. As a matter of routine, an abdominal film was also taken (fig 1). Interestingly, though the left upper abdomen was not the site of any pain or discomfort, there was a significant finding. There was a circular calcification in the left upper quadrant, along the course of the splenic artery, which is strongly in favour of a splenic artery calcification. This finding is also quite typical of a splenic artery aneurysm¹; this is not just a radiograhic diagnosis alone, but requires confirmation with other modalities like Doppler ultrasound and computed tomography.² In this case further aggressive investigations were not done considering her co-morbid conditions.

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Figure 1

 Abdominal radiograph of patient.