I had a splenectomy on May 22, 2009. In June I experienced severe pain in the left upper quadrant. My PCP sent me for a CT. This showed a large collection of fluid in the upper left quadrant. My PCP sent me back to the surgeon. I was told since I was not in pain at the time I saw the surgeon (5 days after the initial onset of pain)that there was no problem. I again had pain on July 8th. On July 10th I needed a drainage tube placed to drain what the surgeon referred to as a pancreatic pseudocyst--750 ml of fluid was drained. The tube was removed on July 17th. The surgion said after removing the drainage tube that the pancreatic tail had been clipped during the splenectomy. A CT on July 22nd shows an increasing amount of fluid in a mass located next to the tail of the pancreas.

Is it common for the pancreas to be damaged during a splenectomy? The surgeon says this problem will resolve itself in time. Since the last CT shows increasing fluid, I am concerned that it may need surgical intervention to take care of the damaged pancreas. Is it possible this problem will resolve itself, OR is is likely surgical intervention will be needed to take care of this?