Question

A 30-yr-old patient has undergone a splenectomy as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Which phenomena are likely to result from the absence of the patient’s spleen.

Answer 1

Spleen plays an important role in filtering blood.The platelets and WBC are stored here and plays a vital role in fighting infection as a part of immune system.Most of the old RBC are recycled here.Hence 7t is necessary yo fight infection.

When a patient undergoes a spleenectimy the following phenomena can expected

• More prone for infection because of lack of WBC storage
• The level of the platelets are increased leading to thrombosis formation
• The chance if pneumonia and meningitis are high because spleen is responsible for killing those bacteria
• Bacterial sepsis
• Vascular complications like arteriothrombosis or venous thrombosis are common in these patients.