Spleen pain is usually felt as a pain behind your left ribs. It may be tender when you touch the area. The spleen can become damaged or may burst rupture after an injury, such as a blow to the abdomen, a car accident, a sporting accident or broken ribs. Sometimes if you lie down and raise your legs, you can feel the pain at the tip of your left shoulder. The spleen can become swollen after an infection or injury.
It can also become enlarged as a result of a health condition, such as cirrhosis , leukaemia or rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors can often tell if you have an enlarged spleen by feeling your abdomen. The spleen is not usually removed if it's just enlarged. Instead, you'll receive treatment for any underlying condition and your spleen will be monitored.
You may be prescribed antibiotics if there's an infection. You'll need to avoid contact sports for a while, as you'll be at greater risk of rupturing the spleen while it's enlarged.
Surgery is only necessary if the enlarged spleen is causing serious complications or the cause cannot be found. You may need an operation to remove your spleen, known as a splenectomy, if it's not working properly or it's damaged, diseased or enlarged. If there's time, you'll be advised to have certain vaccinations before the operation. This is because spleen removal weakens your immune system and can make you more likely to get an infection.
Most operations to remove spleens are carried out using keyhole surgery laparoscopy. Keyhole spleen removal allows a surgeon to get inside your tummy abdomen to your spleen without having to make large cuts. This means you'll have less scarring and may recover from the operation more quickly. But you'll still need a general anaesthetic. Open surgery is where one large cut is made. It may be needed if your spleen is too large or too damaged to be removed using keyhole surgery.
Your spleen also plays an important part in your immune system, which helps your body fight infection. Just as it detects faulty red blood cells, your spleen can pick out any unwelcome micro-organisms like bacteria or viruses in your blood. When one of these invaders is detected in your bloodstream, your spleen, along with your lymph nodes, jumps to action and creates an army of defender cells called lymphocytes.
Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that produces antibodies, special proteins that weaken or kill bacteria, viruses, and other organisms that cause infection.
Antibodies and white blood cells also stop infections from spreading through the body by trapping germs and destroying them. As you've seen, your spleen is a very useful organ, but it is not vital. Sometimes, a person's spleen does have to be surgically removed. This may be because the spleen becomes injured, or it may be taken out in the course of transplanting other organs.
Other parts of your body, like your lymph nodes and your liver , are able to step in and take over many of your spleen's functions. Because the spleen is so important to your immune system, people without spleens are more vulnerable to infections. This is why your doctor may tell you to take extra precautions, such as getting vaccinations, once your spleen has been removed. You will also be prescribed oral antibiotics to take daily; this is another way to prevent infection.
Still, it's not uncommon to be without a spleen, and many people are able to enjoy full lives without one. Learn more about the liver and its functions. Jan Blice Phone: Email: joanne. Renee Brown-Bakewell Phone: Email: renee. Children's Hospital's main campus is located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood.
According to the National Cancer Institute , adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma can have a spleen stage. This type of spleen invasion can also happen with leukemia, blood cancer that originates in bone marrow.
Rarely, other types of cancers — like lung or stomach cancers — will invade the spleen, according to the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology. Spleen cancer symptoms may resemble a cold or there may be pain or fullness in the upper abdomen, according to Medical News Today. An enlarged spleen can also be the result of spleen cancer.
Treatment for spleen cancer will depend on the type of cancer and how much it has spread. The National Cancer Institute lists spleen removal as a possible treatment. Spleen removal surgery is called a splenectomy.
Knowlton said that the procedure is done in cases such as: "trauma, blood disorders idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura ITP , thalassemia, hemolytic anemia, sickle cell anemia , cancer lymphoma, Hodgkin disease, leukemia , and hypersplenism to name a few. Spleen removal is typically a minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, according to the Cleveland Clinic , meaning that surgeons make several small incisions and use special surgical tools and a small camera to conduct the surgery.
In certain cases, a surgeon may opt for one large incision, instead. Nevertheless, removing the spleen can have serious consequences. Often, doctors recommend getting vaccines, including a pneumococcus vaccine, Haemophilus B vaccine, Meningococcal vaccine, and yearly flu vaccine after a splenectomy, according to University of Michican Hospitals and Health Centers. Your spleen is also wonderful for picking out any unwelcome bugs from your blood stream.
Specialised white blood cells, called lymphocytes, munch up the bacteria that have a coat around them encapsulated bacteria and destroy them. The most common bacteria that cause infections in people without a functioning spleen function are pneumococcus, meningococcus and Haemophilus influenzae type B. In a healthy person, this rarely causes illness, however vulnerable people — such as those living without a functioning spleen, may become ill if their immune system is unable to keep the bacteria in check.
If a person has had their spleen removed, is born without a spleen asplenia , or is diagnosed with a spleen that is not working hyposplenism , they have an increased lifelong risk of bacterial infections. Keep reading to find out what life is like without a spleen and what extra care must be taken to protect the body. The spleen stores blood and when a person loses a lot of blood, for example in a bad car accident, the spleen can respond by releasing blood back into your blood system.
The healthy adult spleen weighs around g.
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