A splenectomy is surgery to remove the entire spleen, a delicate, fist-sized organ that sits under the left rib cage near the stomach. The spleen is an important part of the body's defense (immune) system. It contains special white blood cells that destroy bacteria and help the body fight infections when you are sick. It also helps remove, or filter, old red blood cells from the body's circulation.
If only part of the spleen is removed, the procedure is called a partial splenectomy.
Unlike some other organs, like the liver, the spleen does not grow back (regenerate) after it is removed.
You may need to have your spleen removed if you have an injury that damages the organ, causing its covering to break open, or rupture. A ruptured spleen can lead to life-threatening internal bleeding. Common injury-related causes of a ruptured spleen include car accidents and severe blows to the abdomen during contact sports, such as football or hockey.
A splenectomy may also be recommended if you have cancer involving the spleen or certain diseases that affect blood cells. Certain conditions can cause the spleen to swell, making the organ more fragile and susceptible to rupture. In some cases, an illness, such as sickle cell disease, can cause the spleen to shrivel up and stop functioning. This is called an auto-splenectomy.
Splenectomy is used to treat a wide variety of diseases and conditions. Your doctor may recommend splenectomy if you have one of the following:
A splenectomy may be performed as a traditional open surgery or as a laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, procedure. You will be under sedation for either procedure.
A traditional open surgery involves making a cut down the center of your abdomen. The surgeon then moves aside other tissues to remove your spleen. The incision is then closed with stitches. Open surgery is preferred if you have scar tissue from other surgeries or if your spleen has ruptured.
This type of surgery is minimally invasive and has a quicker and less painful recovery time than open surgery. In a laparoscopic splenectomy, your surgeon makes just a few small cuts in your abdomen. Then, they use a small camera to project a video of your spleen onto a monitor. Your surgeon can then remove your spleen with small tools. They’ll then stitch up the small incisions. Your surgeon may decide an open surgery is necessary after viewing your spleen on the camera.
A splenectomy is recommended as a treatment for some conditions that cause hypersplenism and might be recommended as a treatment for others. Hypersplenism is not a disease itself, but is more of a syndrome, or a collection of symptoms. It means that the spleen has become overactive, enlarged, and is storing and destroying too many blood cells and platelets.
What to Expect
Prior to Procedure
Your doctor may do the following:
Imaging tests to evaluate the abdomen and spleen may include:
Talk to your doctor about your medications. You may be asked to stop taking some medications up to one week before the procedure.
Splenectomy causes an increased risk of sepsis due to encapsulated organisms (such as S. pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae). It has been found that the risk of acquiring sepsis is 10 to 20 times higher in a splenectomized patient compared to a non-splenectomized patient, which can result in death, especially in young children. Therefore, patients are administered the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar), Hib vaccine, and the meningococcal vaccine post-operatively (see asplenia). These bacteria often cause a sore throat under normal circumstances but after splenectomy, when infecting bacteria cannot be adequately opsonized, the infection becomes more severe.
An increase in blood leukocytes can occur following a splenectomy. The post-splenectomy platelet count may rise to abnormally high levels (thrombocytosis), leading to an increased risk of potentially fatal clot formation. Mild thrombocytosis may be observed after a splenectomy due to the lack of sequestering and destruction of platelets that would normally be carried out by the spleen. In addition, the splenectomy may result in a slight increase in the production of platelets within the bone marrow. Normally, erythrocytes are stored and removed from the circulating blood by the spleen, including the removal of damaged erythrocytes. However, after a splenectomy the lack of presence of the spleen means this function cannot be carried out so damaged erythrocytes will continue to circulate in the blood and can release substances into the blood. If these damaged erythrocytes have a procoagulant activity then the substances they release can lead to the development of a procoagulant state and this can cause thromboembolic events e.g. pulmonary embolism, portal vein thrombosis and deep vein thrombosis.There also is some conjecture that post-splenectomy patients may be at elevated risk of subsequently developing diabetes. Splenectomy may also lead to chronic neutrophilia. Splenectomy patients typically have Howell-Jolly bodies and less commonly Heinz bodies in their blood smears. Heinz bodies are usually found in cases of G6PD (Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase) and chronic liver disease.