The Spleen

Management of Blunt Trauma to the Spleen (Part 2)

Spleen is the most frequently-injured solid organ in blunt abdominal trauma. Considering its important role in providing immunity and preventing infection by a variety of mechanisms, every attempt should be made to salvage the traumatized spleen at any age particularly in children. After primary resuscitation, mandatory requirements for non-operative management include absence of homodynamic in...

torsion of the wandering spleen

wandering spleen, defined as a spleen without its usual peritoneal attachments, is a rare entity. we report a 34-year-old woman with acute abdomen due to torsion of the long vascular pedicle of a wandering spleen, displaced in the abdominal cavity, and infarction of the spleen. wandering spleen was diagnosed by ultrasound and computed tomography (ct) scan, and was managed by splenectomy in this...

The spleen and sickle cell disease: the sick(led) spleen.

The spleen has a combined function of immune defence and quality control of senescent or altered red cells. It is the first organ injured in sickle cell anaemia (SCA) with evidence of hyposplenism present before 12 months in the majority of children. Repeated splenic vaso-occlusion leads to fibrosis and progressive atrophy of the organ (autosplenectomy), which is generally complete by 5 years i...

Rupture of the Spleen

Ultrasound of the spleen