What are the precautions after splenectomy?
It will take about four to six weeks to recover from the procedure. Your surgeon may tell you not to take a bath for a while after surgery so the wounds can heal. Showers may be OK. Your health care team will tell you if you need to temporarily avoid any other activities, such as driving.Jan 26, 2022
How do I prepare my child for a splenectomy?
How do I prepare my child for surgery? Certain vaccinations are required prior to undergoing a splenectomy, to ensure your child has adequate immunity. These may include vaccines against pneumococcal, haemophilus influenza B and meningococcal organisms. Vaccines are generally given at least two weeks prior to surgery.
What is the importance of splenectomy?
It helps fight infection and filters unneeded material, such as old or damaged blood cells, from your blood. The most common reason for splenectomy is to treat a ruptured spleen, which is often caused by an abdominal injury.Jul 14, 2020
How does the body function without a spleen?
Living without a spleen. If your spleen needs to be removed, other organs, such as the liver, can take over many of the spleen's functions. This means you'll still be able to cope with most infections. But there's a small risk that a serious infection may develop quickly.
What organs take over after a splenectomy?
What organ takes over after spleen removal? After splenectomy, the functions of the spleen are usually taken up by other organs, such as the liver, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.Jul 1, 2020
Why would a child need spleen removed?
In children, blood-related diseases are the most common reason for the spleen to be removed. Hemolytic anemia, beta-thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, and idiopathic thrombocytic purpura (ITP) are frequent reasons the spleen may need to be removed.
Who treats spleen?
For example, hematologists (doctors who specialize in treating blood disorders), oncologists (cancer specialists), and gastroenterologists (liver and digestive tract specialists) all commonly take care of patients who may have enlarged spleen as a response to another condition.
What is the most common complication of splenectomy?
Infections, particularly pulmonary and abdominal sepsis, constitute the majority of the complications. The mortality rate from postoperative sepsis is substantial. Atelectasis, pancreatitis/fistula, pulmonary embolism and bleeding at the operative site are also relatively common occurrences following splenic removal.
What happens to RBC after splenectomy?
It is known that splenectomy improves the RBC count, hemoglobin (Hb) levels, and hematocrit, and that it reduces mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and the percentage of reticulocytes (Reliene et al., 2002; Li et al., 2016; Zaninoni et al., 2018; Huisjes et al., 2020).Mar 25, 2021
Can you have a baby without a spleen?
Without a spleen, a child (especially below the age of two) may have a higher risk of developing serious infections, such as overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI). Even though the risk is small and OPSI is uncommon, it can be very serious, rapidly progressive and even life-threatening if it occurs.
Can a spleen grow back?
Spleen can regenerate through various mechanisms. Autotransplantation of splenic tissue after traumatic disruption of the splenic capsule is well recognized. Splenic tissue can lodge anywhere in the peritoneal cavity following traumatic disruption and regenerates under favourable conditions.
Can I have the Covid vaccine if I have no spleen?
COVID-19 vaccines are not contraindicated and should be encouraged for patients who have had a splenectomy or who have functional asplenia, including those who have had COVID-19 infection.
Overview
Why It's Done
- Splenectomy is used to treat a wide variety of diseases and conditions. Your doctor may recommend splenectomy if you have one of the following: 1. 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. 2. Enlarged spleen.Splenectomy may be done t…
Risks
- Splenectomy is generally a safe procedure. But as with any surgery, splenectomy carries the potential risk of complications, including: 1. Bleeding 2. Blood clots 3. Infection 4. Injury to nearby organs, including your stomach, pancreas and colon
How You Prepare
- Food and medications
Before your procedure, you may need to temporarily stop taking certain medications and supplements. You may also need to avoid eating or drinking for a certain amount of time. Your doctor will give you specific instructions to help you prepare. - Other precautions
If you have time before the surgery, you may need to receive blood transfusions to ensure that you have enough blood cells after your spleen is removed. Your doctor may also recommend that you receive a pneumococcal vaccine and possibly other vaccines to help prevent infection after you…
What You Can Expect
- Before the procedure
Right before your surgery, you will be given a general anesthetic. The anesthesiologist or anesthetist gives you an anesthetic medication such as a gas — to breathe through a mask — or as a liquid injected into a vein. The surgical team monitors your heart rate, blood pressure and bl… - During the procedure
After you're unconscious, your surgeon begins the surgery using either a minimally invasive (laparoscopic) or open (traditional) procedure. The method used often depends on the size of the spleen. The larger the spleen, the more likely your surgeon will choose to do an open splenecto…
Results
- If you had splenectomy due to a ruptured spleen, further treatment usually isn't necessary. If it was done to treat another disorder, additional treatment may be required.