What causes a splenic infarction?

No Blood to Spleen: A splenic infarction occurs when there is not enough blood going to the spleen to give it nutrients & oxygen its cells need to survive. Anything that cuts off blood supply to the spleen can cause an infarct. Ex. Trauma causing blood vessels to be destroyed, sickle cell anemia & other problems that lead to clogged arteries going to the spleen, autoimmune disease, blood cell disease, emboli, etc.

Lack of blood flow: Infarction of the spleen is rare, a hematologic disease like lymphoma or a pancreatitis attack could do this. A splenic artery aneurysm usually bleeds, but a tumor could do this.

Pipes: Imagine the blood going to your spleen as running through a pipe. Things on the outside of the pipe can push to block off the blood flow, (tumor), the pipe could get broken (trauma) and blood flow would leak out, the pipe can get stopped up so blood flow can't get through, or you could even lose blood before all that so no blood even is trying to get through the pipe.