What are the indications for splenectomy?
Your doctor may recommend splenectomy if you have one of the following:
- Ruptured spleen. If your spleen ruptures due to a severe abdominal injury or because of an enlarged spleen (splenomegaly), the result may be life-threatening, internal bleeding.
- Enlarged spleen.
- Blood disorder.
- Cancer.
- Infection.
- Cyst or tumor.
What is the most common indication for splenectomy?
Splenomegaly (see the image below) is observed in conditions such as idiopathic (immune) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), and hereditary spherocytosis. Of these, ITP is the most common indication for elective splenectomy.
What size splenic aneurysm requires surgery?
A symptomatic aneurysm, an aneurysm of any diameter in a pregnant woman or a woman of childbearing age, and an aneurysm >2 cm are all strong indications for surgery because of a significantly increased risk for splenic artery rupture.
What are the signs and symptoms of splenectomy?
Call the doctor right away if you have any of the following after a splenectomy:
- Bleeding.
- Chills.
- Cough or shortness of breath.
- Difficulty eating or drinking.
- Increased swelling of the abdomen.
- Pain that doesn’t go away with prescribed medications.
- Increasing redness, pain, or discharge (pus) at the incision site.
What are the four main functions of the spleen?
Function
- Stores blood.
- Filters blood by removing cellular waste and getting rid of old or damaged blood cells.
- Makes white blood cells and antibodies that help you fight infection.
- Maintains the levels of fluid in your body.
- Produces antibodies that protect you against infection.
Why a patient would need a splenectomy after a diagnosis of ITP?
Why remove the spleen? In people with ITP the immune system treats platelets as foreign and destroys them. The spleen is responsible for removing these damaged platelets and therefore removal of the spleen can help to keep more platelets circulating in the body.
What size should a splenic artery aneurysm be?
The size of splenic artery aneurysms can range from 2 to 9 cm, but usually, it is smaller than 3 cm. Those may be single or multiple and are most commonly involving the distal portion of the artery. Peripheral calcification is common, and mural thrombus may be present 12.
What would cause a splenic artery aneurysm?
Atherosclerotic disease (cholesterol buildup in arteries) may also lead to the formation of some aneurysms. Certain genes or conditions such as fibromuscular dysplasia can result in aneurysms. Pregnancy is often linked to the formation and rupture of splenic artery aneurysms.
What is spleen function?
The spleen has some important functions: it fights invading germs in the blood (the spleen contains infection-fighting white blood cells) it controls the level of blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) it filters the blood and removes any old or damaged red blood cells.